Aviation 'at risk of being left behind' without more govt support

In a joint letter, the trade body representing the aerospace industry, ADS Group, alongside Airlines UK and the Airport Operators Association outlined a range of measures they wanted to see introduced by Westminster to help companies “before [they] face difficult decisions affecting their workforces”.

“UK airlines have grounded hundreds of aircraft and UK airports are operating at minimal capacity. Requests for ticket refunds are outnumbering new flight bookings, our tourism industry lies dormant as visitors rightly stay at home and aerospace manufacturing faces challenges to sustain jobs and cash flow for the duration of this crisis,” the letter said.

It warned those current “dramatic impacts” of the crisis were “likely only the start” and predicted passenger demand returning slowly as consumers regained the confidence to travel and movement restrictions were lifted.

Ensuring the aviation and aerospace sectors can “quickly and fully recover” when restrictions are lifted, means the sector can also support the UK’s wider economic recovery, the groups said.

“Not only are 1.6 million jobs and £92bn in GDP dependent on aviation, aerospace and the tourism sectors, aviation is also one of the engines of the UK economy, enabling other businesses to reach customers, trade goods and build new relationships," the letter added.

As part of the joint action, the groups are calling on the government to:

• Extend the business rate relief measures already taken for retail, leisure and hospitality to include aviation, as the Scottish government has done.

• Swiftly extend the Job Retention Scheme beyond May and allow for more flexibility, enabling UK aviation and aerospace businesses to avoid unwanted redundancies, safeguard our staff’s regulatory compliance and scale up operations in the coming months.

• Make financial support schemes available to all businesses, amend the current caps on lending to boost accessibility and be better suited to the needs of our sectors, and ensure flexibility is built into the support to ensure it can be repaid in line with the sector’s recovery.

• Work internationally to ensure a coordinated approach is taken to the lifting of travel restrictions and other related measures to boost consumer confidence. Other countries are acting decisively, with unprecedented financial support for airports and airlines in the US, Australia, France, Norway and many other countries. Without clear steps by the UK government, including those outlined above, the UK aviation, aerospace and travel sectors are at risk of being left behind in the recovery.

The groups said the UK’s communities and visitors would “see their fortunes restored more rapidly” if aviation can quickly recover from the impact of the pandemic and a sharp bounce back would also help the country’s economic aims once its full exit from the EU has been finalised.

“The UK government has an opportunity to make both those things possible, if it acts decisively now,” they urged.