According to BBC sources, the UK chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has announced that airlines will have to ‘exhaust’ all other options of help before the government will consider entering into aid negotiations with individual airlines. Sunak suggested that raising money from shareholders was at this point a more realistic option.

Alexandre de Juniac, CEO of IATA, has warned of a “small and shrinking window for governments to provide a lifeline of financial support to prevent a liquidity crisis from shuttering the industry.”

Aviation bosses have been lobbying the government for targeted aid packages as they struggle to keep afloat as travel restriction and loss of demand force them to ground fleets of air craft.

IATA has warned of an aviation ‘apocalypse’ if the current climate continues and has estimated that worldwide revenues from ticket sales would fall by $253 billion if travel bans last for three months.

Alexandre de Juniac, CEO of IATA, warned of a “small and shrinking window for governments to provide a lifeline of financial support to prevent a liquidity crisis from shuttering the industry.”