Next week’s rise in the Air Passenger Duty airport departure tax in the UK will make family holidays “unaffordable for many”, Sir Richard Branson’s airline Virgin Atlantic warned yesterday.

APD rates increase on Monday, with those taking trips to the Caribbean being particularly badly hit.

Those flying economy class to the Caribbean from next week will each pay £75 in APD – a 50 per cent hike on the previous rate.

For APD purposes, the Caribbean has been put in Band C which means that passengers will be paying more to fly, for example, to Barbados which is only an eight-hour trip, than to Los Angeles which is a near-12 hour flight.

This is because the whole of the US has been put in Band B where APD rates are slightly lower.

Virgin said yesterday that a family of four holidaying in Florida from next week would be paying a total of £240 in APD.

Also, a retired couple visiting grandchildren in Australia, for example, and flying in premium economy class would, from Monday, pay £170 each – the highest APD rate.

Virgin Atlantic’s chief commercial officer Julie Southern said: “Holidays are an essential part of our lives and are valued even more in these difficult economic times.

“With passengers now being asked to pay up to 10 times more tax since APD’s introduction, the annual family holiday will become unaffordable for many.”

She added: “Given the forecasted rises in APD over the next five years, all travellers will be more than paying their fair share and in fact contributing more to the Treasury than the banks via the new banking levy.

“Our message to the government is that this absolutely has to be the last time that the travelling public faces APD rises.” A Virgin Atlantic survey of 2,000 long-haul flyers showed that due to the APD rises, 56 per cent of holidaymakers believed they may have to cut the number of stays away while 58 per cent would consider taking less holiday money to spend.

Also, only 44 per cent of those polled were aware of next week’s changes. Caribbean tourist chiefs are outraged at the APD rise, while British Airways chief executive officer Willie Walsh has called the tax “a disgrace”.

Travel organisation Abta and other travel industry bodies have continued lobbying ministers to protest at the new APD rates.