MPs on the House of Commons’ transport committee heard three industry leaders outline the scale of the drop in the UK’s aviation sector during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, said: “Getting back to 60-70% for next spring and summer is the best we can hope for.”
He added UK capacity was still currently down by 33% on the same week in 2019, according to figures from Eurocontrol, compared with a reduction of only 21% across Europe.
“We are not going to ramp up overnight – it all depends on what happens with government restrictions,” added Alderslade.
Willie Walsh, director general of airlines association Iata, echoed these comments and told MPs the UK had now slipped from being Europe’s largest aviation market pre-Covid to fourth place – behind Germany, Spain and France.
“Restrictions were excessive and for far too long a period,” he said. “They continue to discourage people, principally because of the cost of testing, even though there has been the move to lateral flow tests.
“The continued use of these tests isn’t justifiable, based on the data. There have been 9.1 million PCR tests with a positivity rate of 0.8%.”
Walsh added: “The problem for the UK is two-fold: it has a small domestic market – domestic markets are recovering faster than international markets; and government policies on restrictions – the cost of testing has suppressed the demand in the UK much more so than in other European countries.”
While Karen Dee, chief executive of the Airport Operators Association, also blamed the UK’s “much more restrictive” rules on international travel for the slow pace of recovery.
“It’s much more strict and onerous for passengers,” she told the committee. “We’re optimistic for the rest of winter but winter is usually loss-making. It’s still going to be a very difficult time.
“Over the summer, European airports were at 60-70% [of 2019 levels], but most UK airports struggled to get above low double-digit percentages.
“It’s stark what’s required on return to the UK, compared to travelling out – particularly to Europe.”
