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Air Passenger Duty rises again in April 2027, and three-year models are already wrong

Written from primary sources · Editor-reviewed · Sources last read 2026-09-20
By the tmcmatch.co.uk editorial team · Published 2026-09-20 · Last reviewed 2026-09-20 · 6 min read
1 primary sources cited on this page. How we check what is on this site

Key points

  • Air Passenger Duty rates for 1 April 2027 are already published, so a three-year model has no excuse for using the current ones throughout.
  • The duty is per passenger per flight, so a UK domestic return carries it twice.
  • The gap between the reduced and the standard rate is a cabin decision — £142 a passenger a leg on Band B.
  • The higher rate, which applies to certain small aircraft, reaches £1,141 on Band C.

Most travel programmes are costed once, at tender, and then run for three years. Air Passenger Duty does not run for three years. It is uprated, the next set of rates is already published, and using today’s figures across a three-year term understates the duty line from the second year onward.

This is a small point that is easy to fix and almost always skipped, so here are both tables in one place.

What is in force now

From 1 April 2026, per passenger, per flight:

Band Destination Reduced rate Standard rate Higher rate
Domestic flights within the United Kingdom £8 £16 £142
Band A 0–2,000 miles from London £15 £32 £142
Band B 2,001–5,500 miles from London £102 £244 £1,097
Band C over 5,500 miles from London £106 £253 £1,141

What is in force from April 2027

Band Destination Reduced rate Standard rate Higher rate
Domestic flights within the United Kingdom £8.26 £16.52 £146.63
Band A 0–2,000 miles from London £15.49 £33.04 £146.63
Band B 2,001–5,500 miles from London £105.33 £251.95 £1,132.76
Band C over 5,500 miles from London £109.46 £261.25 £1,178.20

Both tables are from the GOV.UK rates page, read on 20 September 2026.

Three things about the shape of it

It is per flight, not per trip. A UK domestic return is charged in both directions. That is why the domestic band behaves unlike a short-haul European sector of comparable distance, and why an internal UK programme feels duty-heavier than its mileage suggests.

The reduced-to-standard gap is a policy decision, not a market price. The standard rate applies above the lowest class of travel available on the aircraft. On Band A the difference is £17 a passenger a leg. On Band B it is £142. Nothing else in a travel programme moves that much on a single line in a policy document, and no negotiation with a supplier touches it at all.

The higher rate is not a rounding error. It applies to certain small aircraft and reaches £1,141 on Band C. If any part of your programme involves chartered or private aviation, that is a number worth checking rather than assuming.

What to actually do about it

Not very much, which is why it is worth doing:

  1. Model years two and three on the 2027 rates, not on the 2026 ones. They are published; there is nothing to forecast.
  2. Separate the duty line from the fare line in whatever you compare. Duty is not something a supplier negotiates, so leaving it inside a blended fare figure makes two proposals look more different than they are.
  3. Decide the cabin policy with the Band B gap in front of you. £142 a passenger a leg is the number that makes a long-haul cabin rule worth writing down.

The part nobody can tell you

What happens after April 2027. Rates are set in Finance Acts and change with fiscal policy, so a programme running beyond that is modelling a number that has not been announced. The honest handling is to say so in the model rather than to extend the last known figure flat and forget you did.

Northern Ireland is the one structural exception worth remembering: direct long-haul flights (Bands B and C) departing Northern Ireland are charged at £0.

Sources cited on this page

  1. GOV.UK — Rates and allowances for Air Passenger Duty

Every figure above was read from the source it is attributed to on 20 September 2026. How we check this.

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