Speaking to TTG on Thursday (9 June), managing director Andrew Grant said he hoped to hire "maybe one or two" trade-focused members of staff, including a trade sales manager.

"The first thing we have to do is get back on the road to see our partners," he said. "We are very aware that we need to engage with the trade, and to do that we need a team. We are still coming out of [the pandemic], and a key focus for us has been protecting our customers.

"But we will definitely be looking to higher a trade sales manager, and maybe another trade staff member.

"We are now focused on moving forward, and the way to do that will be to engage with the trade and then work to see how we can benefit them and they can benefit us."

Grant said Red Sea’s business through the trade has remained broadly the same as it was pre-Covid throughout the pandemic, despite a pinch on airline capacity to Egypt.

"Confidence from customers has been really positive," he continued. "We saw it bounce back immediately in January, which was really encouraging to see, but we need that capacity to drive those prices down."