BA needs airport tests to survive, says chief
Chief executive calls for quarantine to be ditched and for critical London to New York route to reopen
British Airways “can survive”, but only if the Government is willing to work with it on airport testing, the company’s chief executive warns today. In an article for The Daily Telegraph, Alex Cruz says that the aviation sector is fighting “for its very survival” after losing 95 per cent of its flights during lockdown. This week, BA announced it had cut 8,236 jobs. Mr Cruz writes: “British Airways can survive, but only if the Government will work with us, rather than against us.”
BRITISH Airways “can survive” only if the Government is willing to work with it on airport testing in the battle to get Britain flying again, the company’s chief executive has warned.
In an article for The Daily Telegraph, Alex Cruz warned that the aviation sector is fighting “for its very survival” after losing 95pc of its flights during lockdown, and is still running at only 30pc of capacity in the face of the 14-day UK quarantine. This week, BA announced it had cut 8,236 jobs.
Mr Cruz said: “These are the toughest times in the history of the aviation industry. British Airways can survive, but only if the Government will work with us, rather than against us.”
Laying down three key demands, he urged ministers to launch an immediate testing trial to replace quarantine, potentially on the critical London-new York route; a bigger list of “regional travel corridors”, including to the US; and a waiver on air passenger duty for 12 months.
Endorsing the ambition of he Telegraph’s Test4travel campaign, Mr Cruz said that testing travellers for Covid-19 is the key to lifting quarantine, reviving travel and opening business links like London and New York which had been “decimated, stifling economic growth”.
He said: “What is hugely frustrating is that we know people want to travel, to fly, whether to see friends or family, to see business contacts face-to-face or to recharge on the beach. But without a rigorous, reliable Coronavirus testing programme – together with a sensible approach to quarantine – people’s plans are being unnecessarily grounded.”
Mr Cruz criticised the Government for delaying its decision on whether to give the go ahead to testing at Heathrow using facilities which the airport has already built to provide PCR tests to arriving travellers. Heathrow has said these facilities are “ready to go”.
He said: “British scientists are leading the way in developing reliable coronavirus tests which could be used to enable the UK to start trading effectively again. Airports like our home, Heathrow, have testing stations set up and ready to go, but their teams are standing idle waiting while our Government sits on its hands.
“Thirty other countries have introduced airport testing to unlock the problem so, my question to Government is, why can’t we? Ministers must work with international partners to agree on a universal arrivals and departures testing process. Just as safety agreements are mutually recognised internationally, so should health standards.”
Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, has signalled his support for a two-test approach where passengers are swabbed on arrival and again five or eight days later, with those who have negative results released from quarantine. However, no date has been set for when this might be introduced.
More than 40 Tory MPS, including former Prime Minister Theresa May, have urged Boris Johnson to introduce testing. Bosses at UK’S biggest airports and airlines have written to Mr Johnson warning that up to 110,000 aviation and allied industry jobs are at risk unless action is taken.
Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, said: “Aviation is in crisis and airlines and airports will go out of business if we cannot resume international travel.”
‘Ministers must work on a universal arrivals and departures testing process, just like safety agreements’
These are the toughest times in the history of the aviation industry. Coronavirus has hit our business hard, and the sector is fighting for its very survival. British Airways can survive, but only if the Government will work with us, rather than against us.
In March, April and May we flew just 5pc of our schedule. Six months into the pandemic and we are still flying just 30pc. The world remains largely closed and all the indications are that the aviation industry will take years to recover.
Business links like London and New York – traditionally one of the busiest airline routes in the world – have been decimated, stifling economic growth.
Like every other airline around the world, we are adapting. We have to. I cannot ignore the situation Covid-19 has created and I deeply regret that too many loyal and hardworking BA colleagues are losing their jobs. What is hugely frustrating is that we know people want to travel, to fly, whether to see friends or family, to see business contacts face to face, or to recharge on the beach.
But without a rigorous, reliable coronavirus testing programme – together with a sensible approach to quarantine – people’s plans are being unnecessarily grounded.
Safeguarding people’s health must always be the top priority, but as we wrote to the Prime Minister this week, the Government needs to take action now, before even more jobs are lost.
Every aircraft at Heathrow supports 300 jobs in the supply chain.
Every aircraft grounded because customers cannot easily travel puts those jobs at risk. Every business unable to make essential connections around the world puts Global Britain at risk.
British scientists are leading the way in developing reliable coronavirus tests which could be used to enable the UK to start trading effectively again. Airports like Heathrow have testing stations set up and ready to go, but their teams are standing idle, waiting while our government sits on its hands.
Thirty other countries have introduced airport testing to unlock the problem, so my question to the Government is, why can’t we?
Ministers must work with international partners to agree on a universal testing process. We are calling for the Government to take action in the following areas to support recovery in aviation:
♦ An immediate testing trial – for example from London to New York to provide real-world data to give ministers reassurance.
♦ A greater list of regional travel corridors beyond the “islands” policy announced this week, and to include the US.
♦ An air passenger duty waiver for the next 12 months.
I am doing everything in my power to keep British Airways flying. Others are doing the same. But we need help.
We need ministers to take the lead on the global stage so that we can open up the world again. To get our aircraft back into the sky safely, and our industry on its way to some form of recovery.
‘Airports like Heathrow have testing stations set up and ready to go, but their teams are standing idle’