Air Passenger Duty

⚠ Air Passenger Duty is charged on departure from a UK airport, per passenger, on the outbound leg. Where you are going decides the band; where you started decides whether you pay at all.

Which is why domestic flying is hit hardest

A return from London to New York pays the duty once. A return from London to Edinburgh pays it twice, because both legs depart from a UK airport. The distance is a fraction of the transatlantic one and the number of charges is double.

And the same New York trip started in New York pays nothing at all, which is why the duty falls on UK residents far more than on visitors.

Class of travel matters more than it looks

The reduced rate applies only to the lowest class of travel on the aircraft. Everything above it is at the standard rate — which on a long-haul flight is more than twice as much, and on a private jet of any size the higher rate is an order of magnitude beyond that.

⚠ A seat-pitch rule catches some airlines out: where the lowest class has generous seat pitch, the reduced rate may not apply at all, so an all-economy aircraft can still be at the standard rate.

What this does not cover

Children under 16, who are exempt in the lowest class of travel. Connecting flights, where a single booking through a UK hub is usually charged once on the whole journey rather than on each leg. Departures from Northern Ireland and the Scottish Highlands and Islands, which have their own treatment. Aircraft under ten tonnes or with fewer than twenty seats, which are outside the duty entirely. And the airline's own reliefs.

Where these figures come from

Every rate above is read from a dated rate file rather than written into the page, and each one is checked against the gov.uk page it came from. How these numbers are kept right sets out the whole process.

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