The Air Charter Association has issued a press statement on the lockdown starting in England on Thursday.
“It was inevitable that Governments around the world would be forced to act to reduce the spread of Covid-19 as the winter arrived. The complete lockdown that we are again seeing in the United Kingdom, where the majority of our members are based, will have a further severe impact on the Air Charter industry – in a period which has seen the UK slump to the lowest position in the whole of Europe.
“When the first lockdown happened our sector provided cargo transport, repatriation, medical and vital business flights to help the world fight this dreadful pandemic and we will do so again, within the regulations, to continue to help vital supplies and businesses to move, safely and efficiently”
“With Brexit now only 42 working days away, and with absolutely no clarity whatsoever on how aviation will continue to operate in the UK and the EU after that date, we reiterate our call on the UK Government to financially support the sector, to ensure that it still exists to help both the UK and EU economies thrive after Covid-19 subsides and the Brexit Transition Period ends. It is frustrating to continually hear that certain sectors will receive support and yet, to date, the aviation sector – vitally important for driving the economy of the UK – has been almost completely ignored by UK Government.
“Without immediate support now, as we have continually called for, we will see a highly-regulated industry decimated and unable to recover quickly, losing hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process.”
