Aldergrove should be able to axe duty

There has been welcome reform of this tax on long haul routes such as the New York flight.

But it still applies on European routes. For a family of four, it adds over £50 to the cost of return tickets.

Aldergrove is Northern Ireland’s main airport and needs all the help it can get competing with Dublin, which has a million northern passenger movements a year.

Dublin has a motorway to the door whereas Belfast International has bad road links from north and south, which lessens its appeal to southern travellers. Traffic always seems to get caught behind lorries on the road from Moira and the road from Templepatrick is not much better. There has been talk about a rail link but the airport at least needs a better road link.

James Agar, Belfast BT4