The previous rate of Air Passenger Duty, an excise duty (a kind of tax levied by a state) which is charged on the carriage of passengers flying from a United Kingdom or Isle of Man airport on an aircraft that has an authorised take-off weight of more than 5.7 tonnes or more than twenty seats for passengers, was doubled beginning February 2007, effective till October 2009.
An excise, or excise tax, is any duty on manufactured goods that is levied at the moment of manufacture rather than at sale. 
