In this section: Every tax
Air Passenger Duty
Last updated . Figures refresh every night. How each figure is worked out.
A per-passenger duty on flights departing UK airports, rising with distance and class of travel. Passengers, through the ticket price. Airlines collect it. It raised £4.6bn in 2025–26, which is 0.5% of everything HMRC collects and 0.15% of the economy. That is up £493m (12.0%) on the year before.
Figures for the 2025–26 financial year. Source: HM Revenue and Customs.
Key figures
- £4.6bnRaised in 2025–26 up on a year earlier: +£493m (+12.0%) vs 2024–25
- 0.15%Of the whole economy (GDP) up on a year earlier: +0.01 pts (+7.1%) vs 2024–25
- -5.3%In real terms, against the 2019–20 peak Adjusted for inflation with the GDP deflator
Sources: HM Revenue and Customs, HM Treasury.
What is the short version?
- How big: £4.6bn in 2025–26, 0.5% of everything HMRC collects; after inflation, 8% more than in 2015–16.
- Latest change, 2023: A reduced domestic band is introduced to support UK connectivity, alongside a higher ultra-long-haul band.
- Where it goes: Nowhere in particular, like almost every tax: it is not earmarked.
- The argument: Aviation fuel is untaxed by treaty, so this is the only way to tax flying; against that, it taxes passengers, not emissions, so it rewards nothing.
How much does it raise?
The numbers behind this chart
| Financial year | Cash | Real, 2025-26 prices |
|---|---|---|
2006–07Details for 2006–07 | £971m | £1,589m |
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2007–08Details for 2007–08 | £1,994m | £3,201m |
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2008–09Details for 2008–09 | £1,862m | £2,882m |
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2009–10Details for 2009–10 | £1,856m | £2,836m |
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2010–11Details for 2010–11 | £2,155m | £3,238m |
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2011–12Details for 2011–12 | £2,607m | £3,835m |
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2012–13Details for 2012–13 | £2,791m | £4,036m |
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2013–14Details for 2013–14 | £3,013m | £4,268m |
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2014–15Details for 2014–15 | £3,175m | £4,435m |
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2015–16Details for 2015–16 | £3,077m | £4,268m |
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2016–17Details for 2016–17 | £3,157m | £4,293m |
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2017–18Details for 2017–18 | £3,352m | £4,501m |
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2018–19Details for 2018–19 | £3,632m | £4,769m |
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2019–20Details for 2019–20 | £3,814m | £4,879m |
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2020–21Details for 2020–21 | £600m | £729m |
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2021–22Details for 2021–22 | £1,020m | £1,237m |
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2022–23Details for 2022–23 | £3,184m | £3,608m |
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2023–24Details for 2023–24 | £3,811m | £4,103m |
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2024–25Details for 2024–25 | £4,125m | £4,267m |
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2025–26Details for 2025–26 | £4,618m | £4,618m |
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Figures for the 2025–26 financial year. Source: HM Revenue and Customs, HM Treasury.
How "real terms" is worked out
Real terms use HM Treasury's GDP deflator, rebased to 2025-26 prices. That is the measure the Treasury and the OBR use for public finances; the consumer price index is the right one for a shopping basket, not for the size of the state.
How does it work?
Air Passenger Duty is charged per departing passenger, not per flight, and it applies only to departures from UK airports. Arrivals pay nothing.
Rates rise by distance band and by class of travel: an economy short-haul seat pays a modest amount, a long-haul premium seat several times more, and private jets more again.
Because it is per passenger, it does not vary with how full or how efficient the aircraft is, which is the core of the environmental criticism: it taxes flying, not emissions.
Children under 16 in economy are exempt, and there are reduced rates for domestic flights within the UK.
How has it changed?
How it got here, and why each change was made:
- 1994Introduced as a straightforward revenue measure, with aviation fuel untaxed by international treaty.
- 2009Restructured into four distance bands, and increasingly justified on environmental grounds.
- 2015Children are exempted from the economy rate.
- 2023A reduced domestic band is introduced to support UK connectivity, alongside a higher ultra-long-haul band.
Where does the money go?
Nowhere in particular. Air Passenger Duty is not earmarked. It goes into the Consolidated Fund and is spent on whatever the government of the day decides.
Because it is not earmarked, the only honest way to show what it pays for is by proportion. If air passenger duty receipts of £4.6bn were spent in the same proportions as all public spending in 2025-26, they would break down like this. It is an illustration of scale, not a statement about where those particular pounds went.
See for every £100 of tax for the full picture.
Does it change what people do?
Demand for flights is fairly insensitive to price, so the duty raises reliable revenue without cutting flying much. That is exactly why its environmental credentials are questioned: a tax that does not change behaviour is a revenue measure with a green label.
When a tax rise stops raising money looks at the cases where the effect has been large enough to move the revenue.
How does that compare with other countries?
Several European countries have similar departure taxes, and a few have abolished theirs after finding the economic cost outweighed the revenue. Aviation fuel remains untaxed internationally under the Chicago Convention, which is the underlying reason such a duty exists at all.
What are the arguments?
The case for it
- Aviation fuel is untaxed by treaty, so this is the only way to tax flying.
- Flying is concentrated among higher-income households.
- Higher rates for premium cabins track space and emissions per passenger.
- It raises billions from a sector that pays no fuel duty and no VAT on tickets.
The case against
- It taxes passengers, not emissions, so it rewards nothing.
- It penalises regions that depend on air links.
- Passengers can avoid it by flying from airports outside the UK.
- Families pay several times over for one journey.
Both columns are set out as their strongest case, not as a preferred answer and a strawman. See how this site handles contested questions.
Common questions
- What is the tax on a flight?
- A per-passenger duty on flights departing UK airports, rising with distance and class of travel. Passengers, through the ticket price. Airlines collect it.
- How much does air passenger duty raise?
- £4.6bn in 2025–26, which is 0.5% of everything HMRC collects.
- Where does air passenger duty go?
- Nowhere in particular. Air Passenger Duty is not earmarked. It goes into the Consolidated Fund and is spent on whatever the government of the day decides.
Use this data
The figures belong to the bodies that published them and are used under their terms, listed in Sources for this page; most are Crown copyright under the Open Government Licence. Only our own words, analysis, charts and derived calculations are ours, published under CC BY 4.0: reuse them, including commercially, if you credit Tekstak Ltd and link back to this page.
Download
- Air Passenger Duty receipts by financial year (CSV) JSON HM Revenue and Customs: Open Government Licence v3.0
- Total HMRC receipts by financial year (CSV) JSON HM Revenue and Customs: Open Government Licence v3.0
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Sources for this page
| Source | Publisher | Figures as of | Updated | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HMRC tax receipts and National Insurance contributions for the UK | HM Revenue and Customs | the 2025–26 financial year | annual | Open Government Licence v3.0 |
| GDP deflators at market prices, and money GDP | HM Treasury | the 2025–26 financial year | annual | Open Government Licence v3.0 |
Each source's figures are used under the licence shown. Our own words, analysis, charts and derived calculations are ours, under CC BY 4.0.