Aviation desperately needs recovery plan, says Transport Committee chair

UK aviation has been “devastated” by the coronavirus pandemic and a government rescue plan “cannot come quick enough”, a leading Tory backbencher has said.

Revenue for airlines, airports and holiday firms has dried up as international travel restrictions have been imposed and customer confidence has collapsed.

Huw Merriman, chair of the Transport Select Committee, was speaking after the government responded to the committee’s report on the state of the aviation industry.

The MP for Bexhill and Battle criticised the current system imposing 14 days of self-isolation for travellers arriving in the UK from most countries.

Mr Merriman said: “The government’s quarantine regime, coupled by a refusal to endorse airport testing to reduce the quarantine period, adds further barriers to travel.”

Airlines and airports have pleaded for a two-stage test to allow arriving travellers who test negative twice for Covid-19 to end quarantine.

But over the weekend, ministers repeated the government’s insistence that testing was not a “silver bullet” to allow restrictions to be eased.

A government spokesperson said: “Work is ongoing with clinicians, the devolved administrations and the travel industry to consider if and how testing could be used in the future to reduce the self-isolation period.

“Any potential change to the testing for arrivals would need to be robust in minimising the chance that positive cases are missed.”

Tens of thousands of jobs have been lost in the travel industry. The Transport Select Committee’s report, The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the aviation sector, singled out British Airways for criticism.

MPs accused BA of “a calculated attempt to take advantage of the pandemic to cut jobs and weaken the terms and conditions of its remaining employees”.

Their report said: “The behaviour of British Airways and its parent company towards its employees is a national disgrace. It falls well below the standards we would expect from any employer, especially in light of the scale of taxpayer subsidy, at this time of national crisis.”

In response, the government said: “The British Airways’ proposal to make up to 12,000 members of staff redundant will be very distressing news for British Airways employees and their families. Other airlines have also announced that they are considering significant redundancies.

“These are commercial decisions but they are decisions which, nevertheless, the government profoundly regrets.”

Mr Merriman said: “British Airways’s ‘fire and rehire’ policy has rightly attracted criticism from government ministers and the prime minister himself.

“It is disappointing that direct legislative action has not been enacted to make this type of action unlawful.”

A British Airways spokesperson said: “We are acting now to protect as many jobs as possible. The airline industry is facing the deepest structural change in its history, as well as facing a severely weakened global economy.”

According to government figures, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, aviation was worth at least £14bn to national GDP, and directly provided more than 130,000 jobs across the UK.

Many more posts, including in inbound tourism, were dependent on aviation.

The government told the committee that it is “taking the necessary steps to support the restart of flights while protecting the public and stopping the spread of Covid-19”.