Representatives from the tourism industry say they want to see Airport Passenger Duty at Ronaldsway ‘scrapped’.
The Isle of Man Travel Trade Association (IOMTTA) has raised its concerns with Treasury about charging APD.
The association, which represents local travel agents, blames high levels of APD as the main cause of reduced passenger numbers travelling by air.
Its says that at a “time when the rest of the world is experiencing record numbers in air travel, Ronaldsway is still 200,000 passenger movements below pre-covid levels”.
Flights Reduced
Brian Kelly, spokesman for the IOMTTA, says that the Isle of Man should be even more concerned after learning that EasyJet will reduce capacity on the Liverpool route by 45,000 seats in 2025.
He said: “We could easily find ourselves 250,000 seats short of pre covid numbers at the end of 2025.”
Members of the IOMTTA believe high fares and the charging of APD are mainly to blame.
Mr Kelly added: “Airlines tend to move away from airports when APD regularly exceeds the fares they can charge.
“APD is due to increase again in the UK shortly, will the IOM follow suit? It’s within the control of our government, not determined by Westminster.”
Downward Spiral
IOMTTA believes the Isle of Man could be on a “downward spiral of reducing traffic leading to even higher APD charges as the Treasury tries to recover the mainly fixed costs of operating the airport”.
Mr Kelly added: “The question is how much income is the airport losing with the reducing number of travelers using Ronaldsway? Is the impact on the visitor economy being measured?
“And how much is the appeal of the IOM to new businesses and new residents affected by the shrinking air route network? The Government may be picking up £3m in APD annually which goes straight to Treasury coffers but what is the hit to the wider economy of reduced traffic?”
The association believes that with substantial growth in passenger numbers across the UK and Eire, “airlines will need incentives to fly to the IOM”.
Get it Scrapped
It says that Liverpool is a prime example, having grown passenger numbers from 4million to 5million between 2023 & 24, with airlines such as EasyJet, Jet2 and Wizz all increasing capacity for 2025.
This comes at a time when EasyJet is reducing the number of seats for sale between the island & Liverpool by 57% in 2025.
The IOMTTA say it is “strongly in favour of scrapping APD at the next budget with the objective of improving the overall benefits to the Island’s economy and residents”.
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