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Policy

Taxes

From
Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, +1 more … Minister for Public Finance
Directorate
Financial Management Directorate, +1 more … Public Spending Directorate
Topic
Economy, Money and tax, Public sector, +1 more … Scottish Budget
Policy actions  2 of 8

Air Departure Tax

Air Departure Tax (ADT) is Scotland’s replacement for Air Passenger Duty (APD), the UK-wide tax on passengers flying from UK airports.

ADT will start on 1 April 2027. Until then, APD continues to apply in Scotland.

Highlands and Islands airport exemptions

Passengers on flights leaving Highlands and Islands airports are currently exempt from APD. This exemption is vital for these remote communities.

We have worked with the UK Government to design a replacement exemption that protects these areas. We are proposing to:

  • extend the current exemption to cover passengers travelling both to and from Highlands and Islands airports and other Scottish airports
  • keep the current exemption for flights leaving Highlands and Islands airports to other UK airports
  • remove tax-exemptions for international flights leaving Highlands and Islands airports, including for passengers taking connecting flights to non-UK airports

Next steps

We published a consultation on Delivering Scotland’s Air Departure Tax on 29 January 2026. The consultation seeks views and evidence on the proposed new Highlands and Islands exemption, higher rates of tax for private jet flights and wider ADT policy. The consultation closes on 26 March 2026 and interested parties are encouraged to respond. We will continue to engage with stakeholders alongside the consultation process, prior to the commencement of the pre-election period.

High-level principles

In June 2025, we published high-level principles to guide how ADT will be developed.

Background

The Scotland Act 2016 gave the Scottish Parliament power to create its own air travel tax. The Air Departure Tax (Scotland) Act 2017 set out how this tax would work.

We consulted the public on ADT in 2016 and 2017. We also published assessments on the economic and noise impacts of the policy.

Two groups have helped shape the policy:

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