ABTA has welcomed the appointment of Justine Greening MP as the new Secretary of State for Transport. Ms Greening replaces Philip Hammond at the Department for Transport following his move to the Ministry of Defence in last week’s government reshuffle.

Mark Tanzer, ABTA Chief Executive said: “The industry is at a critical juncture as we await the Government’s final position on ATOL reform and as it begins to renew its aviation policy. Justine Greening is not new to transport policy and in her last role was responsible for reforming Air Passenger Duty.

“Justine Greening demonstrated a clear grasp of our sector when she appeared at ABTA’s Travel Matters conference this year. She spoke clearly about the Government’s position on aviation duty and we look forward to the same forensic approach being applied to transport policy. She knows that our sector is critically important to the UK economy. We also look forward to working closely with her on ATOL reform in the coming weeks and months.”

ABTA is expecting the Department for Transport to publish its final position on ATOL reform shortly. Since the close of the consultation ABTA has been working closely with officials in the DfT but it will be Ministers who sign off the final position.

Luke Pollard, Head of Public Affairs at ABTA added: “In addition to a new Secretary of State for Transport our sector also has a new Minister at the Treasury, Chloe Smith MP, responsible for APD. As part of the A Fair Tax on Flying campaign ABTA will continue to lobby against the double inflation increase planned in April and the additional cost of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme being added to ticket prices.”