Ryanair slams government over bringing in new £15 rule for passengers

Ryanair slams government over bringing in new £15 rule for passengers
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Ryanair has slammed the new Labour Party government and its Chancellor Rachel Reeves over new rules for airlines. Ryanair chief Michael O'Leary has savaged the Chancellor for not abolishing Air Passenger Duty in a foul-mouthed tirade.

The budget airline boss was criticising Ms Reeves for failing to get rid of the Air Passenger Duty (APD), and went on to accuse one of her Treasury ministers of being a "dopey g**". Mr O'Leary said: "I don't know what f****** airline this dopey g** actually flies on".

"It shows you how out of touch the Treasury are with f****** reality". Mr O'Leary said: "The UK Government, if it really wants to restore competitiveness, if it really wants to restore growth, simple: abolish APD. I wrote a letter to Rachel Reeves on December 2."

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He told the conference as he held the letter. He said the letter called on the Government to scrap APD., adding: "I get [sic] a letter back this week from some dopey junior minister James Murray, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury."

"He helpfully told me that the rate of APD increase is only going up by £2 for those flying short-haul economy - that is 1% of an average airfare", he claimed the minister wrote. He said that APD was between £13 and £15 for an average-priced Ryanair flight of £44.

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Off the back of those figures he dubbed APD a "penal tax". "If Rachel Rubbish is serious about delivering growth, abolish aviation tax", he said, adding: "We don't mind if she comes up with a third runway at Heathrow, although please understand it won't be delivered until 2040 or 2050 at the earliest.

"But at least while you're waiting for that dead cow to breathe life into that dead cat, can you please abolish APD and allow us to get on with delivering real growth?" He said: "The UK continues to lose out on enormous growth opportunities because you have a Chancellor who hasn't a clue about how to deliver growth.

"[She] has had five years to get ready for it, and yet has managed to screw it up in her first budget. Nothing is designed to damage growth faster than increasing taxes on air travel."