Willie Walsh: 'We're though the worst, but UK still lagging behind'

Walsh said domestic flights had recovered to around 75% of pre-Covid levels, led mainly by US carriers, but that international travel was still behind. However, he told the Airlines 2021 conference, “I think we are through the worst of it.”

He predicted a full recovery of domestic air travel next year and said Iata had predicted around 44% of international flying would return in 2022, but added: “Personally I think that is a little bit pessimistic.”

Walsh said the UK was “definitely lagging” behind the rest of Europe: “There’s a very small domestic market and it’s down to government policy – the restrictions with their ridiculous traffic lights. I have never seen a traffic light with five or six colours in it.”

He added: “The UK used to have twice as many flights as Turkey, now we have 7% more.”

He said testing was still a barrier and the UK government was not using data effectively. “The UK government has more data than anybody in the world, but they seem to be ignoring it.”

He said that between late February and the end of September, 9.1 million PCR tests were carried out on travellers, with 0.8% being positive. “PCR positive tests in the general population was over 7%, so the risk is not from aviation.”

Walsh also rounded on the Department for Transport, which he said “has had little influence” on transport policy.

“DfT needs to be more vocal in defending the industry and has a job to do to make other departments understand the critical job aviation has to do.”