Ryanair has confirmed that it will refund the £13 UK travel tax for all children (under-12) who check-in on flights departing the UK from 1st May 2015, following the decision of UK Chancellor George Osborne to abolish children’s APD from 1st May 2015.
However, Ryanair announced that it will go even further than Chancellor Osborne and refund children’s APD on UK flights for the six weeks from 27th March 2015, earlier than any other airline (or Chancellor Osborne), thereby allowing children to fly from the UK tax free for the Easter holidays.
Refunding this UK APD for kids over the Easter Holiday period will cost Ryanair up to £2m, and is the latest in a series of customer experience improvements under Ryanair’s “Always Getting Better” programme.
Ryanair’s Chief Marketing Officer, Kenny Jacobs, said: “While we welcome this partial reduction in APD, we call on the UK Government to abolish APD, and allow UK tourism to return to growth and become competitive once more. Tourist traffic in Ireland has risen by almost 10% since APD was abolished in April, with the VAT received from the additional tourist spend far exceeding the loss of APD. The UK should follow suit and axe the tax for all.”