UK Airlines hit hard as impact of Covid19 slashes passenger numbers

ABC News>Morgan Winsor,Erin Schumaker

The aviation bosses in the UK have been seeking financial help from the government last March 2020. They did it to be able to survive the battle against COVID19 economic crisis.

The aviation sector mainly asked the government for two things:

The first request is to get loans for cash strapped airlines and airports. This is the case of British Airways airline which had to cancel hundreds of flights and give refunds to passengers over coronavirus fears. This caused the airline’s profit to drop by around £40m in two weeks. Heathrow airport had was also negatively impacted as the route Heathrow – Belfast was declared temporally closed. The second ask was for the government to suspend several taxes and regulatory charges, such as the Civil Aviation Authority which is funded completely by the industry.

The Chancellor Rishi Sunak denied the request stating that airlines should first try to find other solutions of funding before turning first to the government. He urged individual airlines to find and exhaust other options before entering into negotiations.