‘The airport terminal and journey to the aircraft is as safe as we can make it’

As the skies start to open up AIA has a number of measures in place to ensure travellers feel as safe and protected as possible.

But no matter what measures are in place Roger Hunt, AIA interim managing director, says mixed messages being delivered by governments are not helping passenger confidence.

“One of the most important things we can start to do now is we need to see a lot of the uncertainty that is hanging over the industry taken away,” he said.

“So before we get anywhere near even asking for financial support we need to get clarity and that’s that joined up approach from the four nations.

“You now have this really difficult situation for people to understand where if you fly from England to many countries in Europe and return, you will not be subject to quarantine.

“But while we know it’s an evolving picture in Scotland – and there’s been some welcome introduction of air bridges that removes the quarantine for some countries – the reality is for the north-east it doesn’t help us greatly.

“Portugal and Spain appear, unfortunately, to be countries where if you were flying out to go on holiday you’re still going to have to quarantine if you’re flying back into Scotland.

“You have this really unusual situation where someone from Scotland flying to Spain and back will quarantine for 14 days but someone from Scotland driving to Newcastle and then flying to Spain and back can then drive back to Scotland and not have to quarantine.

“Now I think what is being suggested by the Scottish Government is that it’s not the case and you still have to complete the form to say your final destination is Scotland.

“However, the robustness of that depends on how well checks are undertaken and to what extent the forms are accurately submitted at the borders.

“It is very confusing for passengers and I think a consistency of approach and one message across the whole of the UK would be really helpful because that uncertainty is driving people not to book.

“It’s leaving airlines in a position where they can not decide if the right thing to do is restart the route or if they say they will let summer 2020 pass and focus on 2021.

“It does in essence mean we have lost a whole summer for an airport like Aberdeen.”

For those who do choose to fly from AIA they will be comforted to know everything possible is being done to help minimise the risk of the spread of coronavirus.

Mr Hunt said: “We recently announced that we have brought in a series of safety measures for the health and wellbeing of not just our staff but our passengers.

“For us it’s making sure there’s PPE for all staff, we have put up screens, we have strong signage and staff are ensuring people are respecting physical distancing.

“We are allowing more time for people to get through security so we, unfortunately, don’t have much open in terms of food and beverage but that will be coming back in the next two to three weeks.

“And, again, that will be a very different experience for individuals in terms of table service and pre-orders.

“For some people it’s perception versus the reality.

“I completely get public perception about concerns over travel and the part we have played in that is we have made our airport terminal and the journey through the terminal and on to the aircraft as safe as we possibly can.”

Wehave brought in a series of safety measures