A family-of-four could end up paying an extra £20 on long-haul flights from the UK due to a tax increase as part of the Budget 2021.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak unveiled the Budget on Wednesday, and revealed that there will be an increase in the Air Passenger Duty (APD) tax on long-haul routes.
The move comes despite airlines having called for them to be scrapped.
Air Passenger Duty is the tax which airlines pay for every passenger flying from the UK. This is usually absorbed within the cost of your flight ticket.
The new tax increase affects long-haul flights only; short-haul rates will remain frozen.
As part of the budget, this will increase by £2 per economy ticket on long-haul flights (from £80 to £82), meaning a family-of-four could pay an extra £8.
Meanwhile, there will be a £5 increase (from £176 to £181) to the APD on premium, business and first class cabins, meaning a family-of-four could end up forking out an extra £20.
However there is a silver lining for those with younger children as the tax doesn't apply to children aged under 16.
It's also worth noting that it doesn't apply on the flights back to the UK - only on outbound flights.
The change is in line with the RPI measure of inflation, and is set to come into force from April 2022.
(We have a wider guide on what the Budget changes mean for your money in case you want to find out more).
Of course at the time of writing, there is a ban on international travel for Brits as part of national lockdowns in the UK. Travelling abroad for a holiday is illegal. There are some valid exceptions for heading abroad such as work or health, but anyone who is travelling will need to provide proof of their valid reason for doing so.
However, there has been a surge in holiday bookings since Boris Johnson announced England's lockdown roadmap, in which he revealed that foreign travel could resume from May 17 subject to a review from the government's Global Travel Taskforce in April.
The news saw holidaymakers flocking to plan trips - easyJet alone saw demand increase by 630% for holidays.
What do you think of the tax increase? Let us know in the comments below.
