UK airlines demanded “urgent additional government support” on Sunday warning that Boris Johnson’s plans to introduce a 14-day quarantine for people arriving in the UK by air will exacerbate the crisis facing the sector.
Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, the industry group, issued the appeal after a conference call between carriers, airport operators and Kelly Tolhurst, the aviation minister, on Sunday that left executives frustrated at the lack of detail over the government’s proposals.
The imposition of quarantine, part of a series of changes to the coronavirus restrictions by the UK prime minister set out on Sunday, has exacerbated fears the lockdown, and an anticipated slow recovery in demand for air travel, threaten the future of many airlines. Most of the world’s passenger aircraft have been grounded since lockdowns swept across the world in March.
“I am serving notice that it will soon be the time — with transmission significantly lower — to impose quarantine on people coming into this country by air,” Mr Johnson said. One official added it would be “a few weeks” before the measure was introduced.
The UK’s aerospace sector joined the plea for help on Sunday, calling for an urgent meeting with ministers to address what they have called an “existential crisis” as struggling airlines axed orders for new aircraft.
Paul Everitt, chief executive of ADS, which represents aerospace companies, including Rolls-Royce and Airbus as well as smaller engineers, wrote to chancellor Rishi Sunak last week warning him that the impact of the pandemic was “stark for many of our members” and could cut annual revenues this year by £5bn.
He called for rapid government action as the sector braced for a wave of job losses in the wake of drastic production cuts by both Boeing and Airbus. Rolls-Royce is preparing to cut as many as 8,000 jobs, while Airbus, which employs 13,500 people in the UK, is also weighing job losses. The cuts will have a knock-on effect on smaller suppliers in coming weeks.
Andrew Mair, chief executive of the Midlands Aerospace Alliance, estimated that the cluster of companies in his region had lost between a quarter and a third of their expected revenue, for the next four years.
Airlines UK has called on the government to suspend air passenger duty, the ticket tax paid by passengers, fees for air traffic control services and levies that fund the Civil Aviation Authority, the regulator. These measures would not preclude efforts by individual carriers to seek government support on a case-by-case basis.
Executives also want an extension of the job retention scheme until October on the assumption the quarantine measures are likely to stay in place throughout the peak summer season.
The government said it recognised it was a “difficult time” for the aviation sector and was in “regular” contact with senior executives. It said it remained “open” to bespoke support only if a company had exhausted all other options, including its wider business support packages and “private funding options”. One senior official at the Treasury said there was a “high reluctance” to bail out airlines or airports.
Mr Alderslade said “urgent additional government support” was needed because ministers were “effectively telling people they can no longer travel for the foreseeable future and airlines will respond to that by grounding their operations.”
Executives were left frustrated at the government’s failure during Sunday’s call to outline when quarantine would come in, how long it might last and what might allow its lifting. One executive said the approach was “sleepwalking” the sector into an “uncompetitive position across Europe”.
“The lack of urgency over the fate of UK aviation is the most alarming thing,” the executive said.
Virgin Atlantic has been in discussions with the government for over a month over its request for a £500m package of commercial loans and guarantees, while easyJet, Wizz Air and IAG, British Airways’ parent, have all accessed the government’s emergency financing facility.
EasyJet on Sunday urged ministers to keep the quarantine in place “for a short period, while the UK remains in lockdown.”
Passengers are expected to have to notify the UK authorities before arrival of where they will self-isolate during their first two weeks in the UK. There will be penalties for breaches of the regulations, which are expected to kill off some carriers’ tentative plans to restart services in the next two months.
Over the weekend Karen Dee, chief executive of the Airport Operators’ Association, warned airports could not survive an extended quarantine period.
Almost all air travel has ceased during the global lockdown. London Heathrow, the UK and Europe’s busiest airport, has said it expects to report a 97 per cent drop in passenger numbers in April compared with the previous year.
Additional reporting by Chris Giles
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