The UK Government says it will ensure parents cannot be charged for sitting next to their children on planes
Michael O’Leary said Mr Burnham was doing ‘damage’ to air travel
Andy Burnham should make “everyday fixes” by cutting air passenger duty and dropping plans to let mayors bring in a tourism levy, the boss of Europe’s biggest airline has said. Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary accused the Prime Minister and his Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander of “everyday spin”, with a proposal to block airlines from charging parents extra to sit with their children on planes.
Mr Burnham and Ms Alexander have also announced plans to stop airlines making passengers pay to amend the name on their flight booking if they need to correct a typo. The Prime Minister said: “People are fed up with these little charges that add up, so I’m putting a stop to them.
“This is what our everyday fixes are all about – giving people room to breathe by tackling the small irritations that catch people out, waste their time and cost them money.”
Mr O’Leary said UK airlines already seat families together without a charge and allow passengers to make small changes to their personal details before departure fee-free.
“Today’s vacuous PR by transport minister Heidi Alexander is typical political spin,” he said. “She’s pretending to do something while in reality doing nothing.”
Mr O’Leary added “her press release is designed to cover over the damage that this Labour Government has inflicted on UK air travel” by the decision to raise air passenger duty in April this year.
The tax went from £13 per head to £15 for most passengers in economy seating on short-haul flights leaving the UK. This amounts to “£60 for a family of four”, Mr O’Leary said.
Mr O’Leary also said that Martin Rolfe, chief executive of National Air Traffic Services (NATS), was still in post after his organisation suffered two technical problems within a fortnight of each other which left flights grounded throughout the UK.
The Government has a 49% golden share in the air traffic control provider. An initial report by Nats into the first incident on September 8 found the failure was caused by a “software defect” and that the fault had happened “in the space of a millisecond”.
Mr Rolfe apologised for the September 8 issue, saying he took “full responsibility”. The Ryanair boss continued: “If Andy Burnham is serious about making ‘everyday fixes’ then he should start by abolishing £15 air passenger duty and scrap his stupid plan to allow regional mayors to ‘double tax’ UK visitors.
“This is a prime minister who talks a lot but when push comes to shove, delivers zero action.
“Heidi Alexander’s press release today is not an ‘everyday fix’, it’s just ‘everyday spin’ from a Government that keeps raising taxes on air travel for UK families and visitors.”
MPs are in the process of debating a new set of rules for travel companies, as the Civil Aviation (Consumer Protection and Regulatory Reform) Bill makes its way through Parliament. The proposed new law will give ministers a flexible power to draw up a list of passenger rights and a list of duties which both airlines and airports have.
Mr Burnham and Ms Alexander have planned to require airlines to sit children aged under 14 near their parents or accompanying adults free of charge. According to the Department for Transport, an arrangement to sit together can currently cost a parent and child up to £104 on a return journey.
They have also announced a crackdown on bad behaviour by passengers on aircraft, with a plan to work with airlines and trade unions on a new system for sharing information about disruptive passengers.
Airlines logged more than 1,000 serious disruptive passenger incidents in 2025, Government figures show, including what it described as a mid-air brawl which caused a flight to be diverted. Using the new system, airlines could choose to ban persistently disruptive passengers from their aircraft.
Mayors and other local leaders were told last month that they would be given powers to charge an overnight visitor levy, to collect money from people who choose to visit their areas.
Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner said at the time the move “will give mayors the choice to raise and reinvest funding where it’s needed most – it’ll help support the local services, public spaces and attractions that both residents and visitors rely on, with decisions taken by people who know their area best”.
Mr O’Leary has previously said: “We don’t have any great fundamental philosophical difference with his regional tax, where you allow the regional mayors to add a tax on hotel nights, but that is a double tax on tourism.
“Abolish air passenger duty. You can’t tax tourists on the way into the UK and then double tax them for the hotel night.”
Chancellor John Healey is due to deliver his first Budget on October 28.
