Chief executive of the British Air Transport Association (BATA) Simon Buck believes chancellor George Osborne has scored a "shocking own goal" by hiking air passenger duty in his latest Budget.

Although Mr Osborne acknowledged the fact that action is needed to enable the UK to compete with emerging nations, he failed to relieve some of the pressure that the "sky-high tax on flying" is putting on British businesses, Mr Buck suggested.

The UK has the highest passenger duty rates in the world and this puts the country's economy at a distinct disadvantage, as foreign companies and investors are looking elsewhere when forging new trade links.

Mr Buck said there is "incontrovertible evidence" to suggest that scrapping the levy would provide the economy with a £16 billion boost over the next three years and create 60,000 new jobs in the process.

"The missed opportunity to help kick start our economy is a shocking own goal," he remarked.

Mr Buck was also less than complimentary about the government's Autumn Statement last year, as he felt the Coalition was standing in the way of much-needed investment into extra runway capacity.