Commenting on the Government’s revised approach to travel following the Transport Secretary’s confirmation, Airport Operators Association Chief Executive Karen Dee said:
“The removal of Portugal from the green list and no new green countries is another huge blow for people looking forward to seeing family, taking a holiday abroad or travelling for business. Given the success of the UK vaccine rollout, the continuing overly cautious approach to travel will disappoint and puzzle many.
“Summer 2021 is shaping up to be worse than last summer, which was the worst in aviation history. Analysis by IATA has shown that 860,000 jobs of the 1.6m UK jobs in aviation, travel and tourism were lost or sustained only due to government furlough schemes since the pandemic started.
“The UK and devolved governments must now decide: either let the UK have a vaccine dividend, as the EU and US plan to do, and reopen travel in a meaningful way at the next review point on 28 June, or give the aviation and tourism industry substantial sector-specific support to help us protect jobs and weather another disastrous summer as a result of a continued overly cautious approach.”
ENDS
