Airport bosses warn downturn in tourism will cost 110,000 jobs

AIRPORT bosses have warned the Government that more than 110,000 jobs could be lost because of the collapse in the travel industry due to the coronavirus crisis.

The Airport Operators’ Association (AOA) has surveyed its members at hubs including Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester to calculate how many workers and allied businesses are at risk because of the downturn in flights.

The AOA has warned the jobs are under threat even with the Government’s expected relaxation of the 14-day quarantine rule which has held back any revival in the summer holiday market.

Analysts are projecting just 50 per cent of normal air travel will resume this year following a 98 per cent collapse in flying at the peak of the international lockdown.

Oxford Economics has forecast that the number of tourists coming to the UK is unlikely to recover to its precovid-19 levels until 2023/24.

Ministers are shortly expected to announce plans for “travel corridors” to enable holidaymakers to bypass the quarantine rules to visit about 10 “low risk” popular Mediterranean destinations including France, Greece, Portugal,

Spain and Italy. The proposals could be unveiled before the weekend and may include a number of longer haul “low risk” countries such as Bermuda and Canada.

However, the AOA, which represents 50 airports, said the near-standstill in air travel for the past three months represented an “unprecedented” crisis with the worst drop-off in traffic levels in aviation history.

While the airports plan to shed 20,000 jobs directly, it warned this would have a multiplier effect on businesses servicing them in and around the site.

“Given this multiplier effect, the total potential job losses expected across all UK airports and their local business communities is likely to exceed 110,000,” a spokesman for the AOA said.

It urged the Government to protect jobs by measures including deferring business rates and suspending air passenger duty for at least six months.

Karen Dee, AOA chief executive, urged the Government to revoke blanket quarantine “as soon as possible”.

“We face considerable challenges in recovering from the devastating impacts of Covid-19 and we are calling on the Government to do much more and act with urgency to protect jobs in the aviation sector, many of which are highly skilled,” she said.

“These job figures clearly show that a key component of the UK’S infrastructure is on its knees, with no relief to the current crisis expected. Government needs to recognise the immense crisis facing the country’s airport communities and take action to support UK aviation and protect livelihoods.”

The appeal has been backed by former aviation minister Paul Maynard, who said Heathrow alone could see 25,000 job losses across its site.

In an online article for The Daily Telegraph, he writes: “While each lay-off is an individual casualty of the pandemic, we should also be worried about the dangerous lasting damage this is causing to an industry that the UK will need to safeguard our economic recovery.

“We can’t afford to see a skills base developed over decades be decimated by economic shock waves – we will soon need these highly-skilled people again.”

The research follows a survey of the travel and hospitality industry which found 71 per cent planned to lay off up to 60 per cent of their staff.