London Luton Airport staff 'speak up for travel'
They are taking part in a day of action, calling for more support from the government
Last updated 23rd Jun 2021
Staff at London Luton Airport are taking part in a day of action, calling for more support for the travel industry.
As part of the Travel Day of Action, LLA is joining calls on the UK Government to:
- Allow international travel to return safely and in a risk managed way by properly implementing the Global Travel Taskforce's plan for a traffic-light system, by expanding the green list in line with the evidence and making restrictions more proportionate, whilst keeping a strong red list to guard against variants. The Government should also capitalise on the success of the vaccine rollout by relaxing testing and quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated individuals.
- Bring forward a package of tailored financial support, including extension of furlough support, recognising that the travel sector's ability to trade and generate income is much slower than first anticipated and more gradual than for businesses in the domestic economy.
The Government is expected to provide an update on the traffic light list within the next week, and a review of the requirements for international travel is due on 28 June.
To demonstrate their support for the Travel Day of Action, employees from businesses across London Luton Airport gathered to show their backing for the campaign.
The Travel Day of Action follows a challenging year for the airports and the travel industry, with data from the IATA showing that, of the 1.6m jobs in aviation, travel and tourism pre-pandemic, 860,000 have either already disappeared or are sustained only by government furlough.
The industry bodies behind today's effort includes the Airport Operators Association, ABTA, Airlines UK, trade unions, and UKinbound.
Alberto Martin, Chief Executive of London Luton Airport, said:
"The Government needs to do more to support the aviation industry and the people who depend on it. We are yet to see a meaningful restart to international travel, which is especially worrying as we approach what would have been the peak summer season.
"Whilst we understand the cautious approach taken by the Government, it is not in line with the recommendations put forward by the Global Travel Taskforce to allow the safe and gradual restart of overseas travel.
"We would therefore urge them to re-consider this approach and acknowledge the massive impact this is having on both the travel industry and consumer confidence more broadly."
Airport Operators Association Chief Executive Karen Dee said:
"The Government's overly cautious approach to reopening travel has real-world consequences for the 1.6m jobs in the UK aviation and tourism industries that rely on aviation having a meaningful restart.
"Unless the Government makes a meaningful restart of aviation possible by extending the green list at the next review, moving to rapid and affordable tests for returning travellers and following the examples of the EU and the US by reducing restrictions on fully vaccinated passengers, aviation and travel are in for an extremely difficult summer.
"If the Government decides it cannot reopen travel more meaningfully, then they should stand ready to give substantial financial compensation to airports and others in aviation and tourism.
"Jobs and livelihoods in businesses across the economy that need air connectivity for their success are at risk. The Government cannot afford to let those go."
About the Travel Day of Action
Employees and businesses from across the aviation and travel industries - airlines, airports, tour operators, travel agents, suppliers and partners - are coming together to raise awareness of the challenges facing the travel industry, and to ask the UK Government reinstate a risk-managed approach around a safe return to international travel in time for the peak summer period and to think again about financial support offered to the sector.
Key facts:
- As the third-largest aviation market in the world, the group enabled tens of millions of UK residents to travel overseas, whether on business, for holidays, or to see families and friends, generating over £53bn in domestic spending. More than 50% of UK residents travelled abroad at least once pre-pandemic
- Each year 41 million tourists, travellers and business people visit the UK, spending £28.4bn in cities, at conferences, events and attractions.
- London, the world's number one most connected city in 2019, saw an 88% decline in connectivity between April 2019 and April 2021.
- The UK as a whole has fallen to number twenty in IATA's rankings from being the fifth best connected country in 2019.