Save our airlines

MORE than a million Scots are now banned from indoor meetings with other households.

Swathes of the West of Scotland are in a stricter form of lockdown than the rest of the country. At times it seems we’re on the verge of losing the gains we’ve made through much collective sacrifice.

But there are signs that, however belatedly, we are beginning to adapt to the challenges of living with Covid.

The prospect of airport testing on a wide scale is among those positive developments that must be warmly welcomed. As the Mail has highlighted in recent days, the aviation industry is in dire straits.

Other countries have taken a far more nuanced – but still robust – approach to the problem of preventing the ‘importation’ of the virus via air travellers. Lengthy quarantine periods are damaging for individuals and businesses. They are shambolically administered and often imposed at short notice, with policy inexplicably differing across the four nations of the UK.

The ‘two-test’ strategy now under consideration would help to create a far more efficient system, with less uncertainty for travellers.

It’s heartening that Nicola Sturgeon is listening to the concerns of airport bosses, who have warned of an imminent jobs crisis on a par with the coal industry in the 1980s.

Of course, it’s impossible to eliminate the risk of an air passenger bringing the virus into Britain. And any new testing regime would have to be rigorously monitored.

But ministers simply can’t afford any more prevarication if they’re serious about saving this crucial industry from oblivion.