Directors at Leeds-Bradford International Airport say it stands to lose £1 million after Duty Free is scrapped.

Europe's leaders have ruled that cheap cigarettes, alcohol and perfume for European travellers will end on June 30.

But the airport said the move was expected and had been budgeted for.

"The round figure that we will lose is about £1 million but we have been budgeting for Duty Free to go," said the airport's managing director, Ed Anderson.

"We realised that the likelihood was that it would be stopped and it's not going to set us back. We will take it in our stride.

"The actual Duty Free shops at Leeds-Bradford are run by a separate company called Alpha who has assured us there won't be any redundancies. At the end of the day it's up to them but we aren't aware of any problems.

"The airlines that all sell Duty Free on board will also be affected by the decision.

"There are still other shops at the airport which are run by specialist companies and they are very keen to continue to give passengers the opportunity to shop.

"There will still be a wide variety of goods on sale."

Mr Anderson said the airport had been part of the campaign to get the decision to scrap Duty Free reversed.

"Duty Free does bring a lot of benefits and we feel that it's been abolished on a technicality," he said.

"It's part of people's holiday and the indication from passengers has been that they would very much like it to continue."

The Duty Free lobby estimates that up to 100,000 jobs will be lost at ports and airports and among airline and ferry staff - with 30,000 jobs at risk in the UK. Kent would be hardest hit, with 9,000 jobs lost, it was claimed.

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