Airports offer Carriers marketing support
And Tax rebates based on new routes and
Passenger foot fall through Airport so
Growth is pure speculation as these incentives exist now.
We should be reviewing the profits Airports
Currently make and they should be capped
So the airport taxes charged excluding APD
are reduced the regulators who have just
Stopped the merger of Asda snd Sainsbury
Should be looking at the monopoly Airports
Have and charge what they like!

Why should Scotland benefit and not the
Rest of the Uk If APD is to be replaced or abolished it should not be for Scotland only

Its a industry issue and low hanging fruit for
HMRC to scoff on instead of getting off their
Backsides to collect correct Taxes from
Google Amazon Starbucks etc...

Its a disgrace

There is little doubt that there would be more service to UK airports from more places were it not for APD - simple price elasticity suggests the higher the price the lower the demand. And the lower the demand the fewer routes are sustainable over the medium term.
Moreover, the margins - particularly on long haul flying (where the tax is so burdensome), are thin and it takes little extrapolation to suggest that seasonal services - both at the beginning and end (of Summer), where revenues fall and costs remain broadly similar, are the periods that would immediately benefit from APD reduction/ removal. No tax and the break-point (profit to loss) then delays.
Once the season lengthens the corporate customer base has a chance to build and longer term route viability improves. Winter season operations then start to take root, etc.

Every part of the journey - including airport charges, need to be efficient, however an indiscriminate tax on everyone that flies - including our inbound visitors, speaks to "the UK being open for Business' as an empty political epithet only.