Stansted owner calls to rescind restrictions as losses mount
Stansted airport’s owner the Manchester Airports Group (MAG) has called on the UK Government to rescind the latest travel restrictions as the company continues to struggle because of the pandemic.
In the six months ended 30 September, the group – which owns Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports – reported a £75.7m loss before interest and tax, with revenues 70 per cent down compared with pre-pandemic levels.
According to MAG, the decision to bring back mandatory Day 2 PCR tests has already led to numbers going down between 10 and 20 per cent, with numbers set to increase further following the introduction of pre-departure testing.
“As a business, we will always do our part to protect public health, but we also need these temporary measures to be removed when they are no longer worthwhile,” said MAG’s boss Charlie Cornish.
“MAG, and the wider UK travel industry, can be confident of a strong revival when travel restrictions are lifted.
“All we are asking for is to be able to plan for our recovery, and to be given the same chance that every other sector was given through the domestic roadmap earlier this year.”
Cornish’s comments come after the International Air Transport Association (IATA) called on governments to follow the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) guidelines and rescind travel bans.
“Whatever measures are in place need to be constantly justified against the latest and most accurate scientific knowledge,” said yesterday IATA’s director general and former IAG boss Willie Walsh.
Airlines and airports are not the only stakeholders to question the travel restrictions. According to Toby Kelly – chief executive of travel company Trailfinders – the travel sector is being singled out for “punitive treatment.”
“[Day 2 tests] harm the confidence to book holidays like nothing else and will kill off travel firms and livelihoods over this winter,” he said. “Futher, the UK as one of the highest incidences in the world of Covid cases per million of population, arguably the people returning from these lower case destinations are a low priority for testing.”