Although the end of 2020 brought with it a glimmer of hope following the promise of a COVID-19 vaccine being rolled out around the world and a post Brexit UK-EU trade deal being agreed, the new year has so far got off to a rocky start. New strains of the coronavirus (first detected in the UK and South Africa in December) have prompted dozens of travel bans and widespread concern about what this all means for countries around the world.
Many countries have already reacted by closing their borders and suspending commercial flights to restrict the spread of any new strains and, on Monday 4 January, the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, declared another nation-wide lockdown until the end of February at the earliest with other countries also reintroducing or extending their own lockdowns. It՚s yet another devastating blow to airports and the aviation sector as a whole.
“While airports understand the public health reasons behind the renewed lockdown, it comes on top of the EU’s ban on UK nationals travelling to the EU for non-essential purposes,” said Karen Dee, the Airport Operators Association’s (AOA’s) Chief Executive.
“We are fast approaching a full twelve months of aviation being effectively shut down, with only limited support for UK airports provided to date,” she continued.
AOA is calling on the UK Government to step up its support for the aviation sector and to cover operational losses during the current heightened restrictions, as well as to extend all existing forms of support until aviation is able to operate free from the barriers that have prevented any meaningful recovery to date.
“The UK aviation industry will play a crucial role in enabling the country’s economic recovery and Global Britain, but can only do so if it gets the support necessary to get through the coming months and years,” Dee concluded.
And while Eamonn Brennan, EUROCONTROL’s Director General, is confident that the recovery will start to firm up in 2021 as the vaccine rolls out across the globe, he also warned that continued financial support is required across the aviation sector in the years ahead. “If we’re ready to ՙbuild back better՚ in 2021, we must start tackling core issues, such as the way the aviation system is financed, regulated and integrated,” he said.
It might not be quite the bright, shiny start to 2021 we had all hoped for, but now is certainly not the time to give up. It’s time to buckle up for the long road to recovery, but recover we will!
Otherwise, I’d like to wish you all a Happy New Year and please do get in touch if you’ve got a story you’d like to share.
Best wishes,
Chloë Greenbank
Editor, Regional Gateway
