Thomas Cook waives APD to highlight tax
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Thomas Cook is to launch an APD-free sale to highlight how much tax its customers are paying on flights.
The travel company will waive the tax for long-haul packages booked between 24 August and 13 September for travel between November 2012 and 31 October 2013, the Telegraph Travel reported.
The announcement comes as the A Fair Tax on Flying campaign is close to reaching 100,000 emails to MPs following its sharing success on social media. Organisers of the campaign have attributed the success to Facebook and Twitter, the former of which now has 13,000 likes on its page. Now into its seventh week, more than 90,000 people have emailed MPs about the tax and the campaign is pushing for its 100,000 target.
“The huge and growing volume of support for the campaign demonstrates beyond any doubt that people are seriously concerned about the impact that APD is having on holidaymakers and on the economy. The Government cannot ignore this groundswell of public opposition to the current levels of APD,” said Simon Buck, chief executive of the British Air Transport Association (BATA). “But we still have some way to go to break the 100,000 barrier so I encourage everyone to keep telling their friends about the website to make sure that APD remains front-of-mind for MPs as they go away for their summer breaks.”
The campaign has received the backing of several airlines, aviation groups and business groups, with Visit USA due to discuss the campaign in its general meeting next month.
