Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on 31 March, transport secretary Grant Shapps stressed the government was working with countries all over the world to fly UK nationals home.
“This will not be quick or easy,” said Shapps. “I want to say the scale is enormous. I handled the Thomas Cook repatriation, which was the largest at the time and this is even bigger, simply because it’s not a single airline and we don’t know where everybody is.
“It’s a much more complex and more global affair and it will take time and patience.”
This comes as the government partners with British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, easyJet, Jet2 and Titan Airways to repatriate any travellers still stuck abroad.
It has already brought hundreds of thousands of people back to the UK, including 150,000 from Spain, 8,500 from Morocco and 5,000 from Cyprus.
During the broadcast, Shapps also said the government was working with airlines who are seeking rescue packages while passenger numbers are depressed.
He said: “We do want there to be competition in the airline market and we think that is absolutely right when we come out of this crisis for that to be there.
“Having said that, we are also very firmly aware that a lot of the airlines have shareholders who will also be expected by the public to put their hands in their pockets.
“It can’t be right, for example, that in the good times the shareholders benefit and in the bad times the taxpayer pays, so we have to get that balance right.”
This comes as Flybe cited Covid-19 as partially responsible for its collapse, and both Loganair and Virgin Atlantic are believed to be seeking state aid.
