Pilots’ union calls for ministers to commit to ending travel ban on 2 December
The UK’s pilot union has called for the government to commit to end the ban on international leisure travel on 2 December.
Under the rules of the new national lockdown, which begins tomorrow, all but essential overseas travel from England will be banned.
When the measure was announced on Saturday it was denounced as a “body blow” by the airlines industry, which has already been hammered by the coronavirus pandemic.
“If the Government were determined to destroy the airline industry they couldn’t be doing a better job right now”, Balpa general-secretary Brian Strutton said.
Today the union issued six demands to ministers, led by the call to bring the ban to an end along with the rest of the measures at the beginning of December.
Earlier today PM Boris Johnson told businesses at the CBI conference that the restrictions would be lifted on 2 December.
In addition, Balpa called for sector-specific help from government, ring-fenced from shareholders.
Despite promising bespoke assistance for airlines back in March, none has as yet been forthcoming, although they have been able to access existing schemes.
They also called for a 12-month waiver on the Air Passenger Duty tax, as well as a moratorium on any further job losses.
“We’ve had promise after promise of sector support and have seen none”, Strutton added.
“In the meantime, hundreds of pilots and thousands of other workers have lost their jobs, and thousands more have taken pay cuts or are working part time.”
Finally, they called for the government to roll out an airport testing programme by the end of the lockdown period, as well as the relaunch of the government’s expected Relaunch and Recovery plan.
“This is crunch time. We need action now. The government simply must respond if it wants a functioning airline industry to exist after the winter to power our economic recovery post-Covid”, he finished.
Morning Wire has contacted the Department for Transport for comment.