A welcome move for anyone planning a family holiday from April 2015 onwards was the Chancellor's announcement that he would reduce travel costs for families by exempting children flying economy from Air Passenger Duty (APD)
This comes in the same week as the Smith Commission announced that Scotland would have powers to set its own APD rates following full tax devolution.
As a result of the new changes in the rest of the UK, children under 12 will be exempt from APD on economy tickets with effect from 1 May 2015, and the exemption will be extended to include children under 16 from 1 March 2016.
George Osborne said this will help to reduce the cost of holidays for families by up to £71 per child.
The latest move follows on from changes at Budget 2014, which reduced the cost of flying to countries over 4,000 miles from London, and froze short-haul APD.
The new APD rates come into effect from 1 May 2015. This will be extended to children under 16 from 1 March 2016.
Details of the actual booking requirements and timings were not available in the Autumn Statement document.
