1Citation and commencement#
These Regulations may be cited as the Air Departure Tax (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2026 and come into force on 1 April 2027.
2Amendment of the Air Departure Tax (Scotland) Act 2017#
(1)The Air Departure Tax (Scotland) Act 2017 is amended as follows.
(2)In section 2(1)(b) (meaning of chargeable passenger), for “7” substitute “7A”.
(3)After section 7 (changes of circumstance beyond passengers’ control), insert—“7A 1 A passenger is a non-chargeable passenger in relation to a flight if—a the passenger is carried on the flight in one of the circumstances set out in subsection (2),b the passenger will, according to the agreement for carriage, have standard class travel on every flight covered by the agreement for carriage, andc the aircraft on which the passenger is carried is not a special category aircraft.2 The circumstances are that the flight (or, in the case of two or more flights which are connected flights, the first connected flight) begins at an airport—a in a designated area, and the passenger’s final destination is an airport in the United Kingdom,b in Scotland, and the passenger’s final destination is an airport in a designated area.3 In this section, the final destination of a passenger carried on a flight—a is the place where the flight ends (or, if the flight and one or more subsequent flights are connected flights, where the last connected flight ends), andb is to be determined in accordance with subsection (4).4 For the purposes of this section, the final destination of a passenger carried on a flight is to be determined—a where the flight is not part of a series of connected flights—i where a ticket is issued for the flight, by reference to the passenger’s ticket as it stands immediately before the flight takes off, orii where a ticket is not issued for the flight, by reference to the passenger’s agreement for carriage as it stands immediately before the flight takes off, orb where the flight is part of a series of connected flights, by reference to the passenger’s ticket (or tickets) as it stands (or they stand) immediately before the first connected flight takes off.5 For the purposes of this section, the designated areas are—a the local authority areas of Highland, Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands and that part of Argyll and Bute which is the area of the former Argyll and Bute District Council and the islands of Arran, Great Cumbrae and Little Cumbrae, andb in the local authority area of Moray, the parishes of Aberlour, Cabrach, Dallas, Dyke, Edinkillie, Forres, Inveravon, Kinloss, Kirkmichael, Knockando, Mortlach, Rafford and Rothes.”
(4)In section 9 (aircraft used under public service obligation)—
(a)in subsection (1), after “public service obligation”, insert “, subject to subsection (1A)”,
(b)after subsection (1), insert—“1A Where a flight that is operated under a public service obligation is part of a series of two or more connected flights, the aircraft in relation to the flight is to be treated as a chargeable aircraft in relation to any passenger whose final destination is an airport outwith the United Kingdom.”
(c)in subsection (2)—
(i)for “a Member State of the European Union” substitute “the Secretary of State”,
(ii)after “air services”, insert “in the United Kingdom”.
(5)In section 44(1) (interpretation), in the definition of “exemption”, in paragraph (a), for “7” substitute “7A”.
(6)In the table in schedule 3 (index of defined expressions)—
(a)after the entry for “deregistered (for the tax)”, insert—“”
(b)in the entry for “final destination (of a person on a flight)”, in the second column, after “section 16(5)”, insert “(and section 7A(3), which applies for the purposes of section 7A)”.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.