Airports facing £4 billion hit as struggle continues to return from pandemic
UK airports, including Birmingham, will suffer a £4 billion hit from lost revenue this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, an industry body has warned.
The Airport Operators Association said nearly £2 billion was lost in the four-month period between March and June alone, which is equivalent to around £15 million each day.
It anticipates that the finances of its members will continue to suffer throughout the rest of the year, putting up to 110,000 jobs at risk at airports and their supply chains.
Passenger numbers have fallen by as much as 99 per cent during the crisis, with demand for travel collapsing and restrictions being introduced by governments around the world.
Birmingham Airport, which had 12.6 million passengers use it last year, saw a 98 per cent fall in flights at the height of the lockdown.
The seventh largest UK airport, which provides employment for more than 30,000, has gradually been seeing more airlines resume flying including Jet2.com a week ago.
While tourists have started to come through check-in at Birmingham en-route to package holidays, numbers are just a fraction of that experienced during a normal summer. The airport was boosted last week with plans for extra direct rail services, linking it to areas of the north for the first time. But while that will benefit it in the longer term, it faces an immediate challenge to bring numbers back up.
Heathrow said just 350,000 people travelled through the airport last month, down 95 per cent on June 2019.
ACI Europe, which represents European airports, recently predicted that passenger numbers will not recover until 2024.
Some of the world’s largest aviation companies, including the owner of British Airways, have written to both US and European leaders urging them to swiftly restore transatlantic air travel.
Severity
Aviation has been one of the industries hardest hit by the Covid-19 shutdown, with many companies facing heavy job losses and restructuring to survive. The AOA and airport chief executives have written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling on him to take urgent action to help the aviation industry.
They noted that the aviation industry has been “denied the kind of targeted support afforded to other sectors”.
The AOA wants relief from business rates for 2020/21 in line with support given to the hospitality and retail sectors, help with meeting employment costs when the furlough scheme ends, and the suspension of Air Passenger Duty for at least six months to stimulate demand.
AOA chief executive Karen Dee said: “These projections reinforce the significant challenges that UK airports continue to face after the worst four months in the history of commercial aviation.
“Whilst we have seen passengers begin to return, passenger numbers are not expected to reach pre-Covid levels for a considerable period and airports will continue to face challenges and pressures unimaginable six months ago.
“That our airports lost close to £2bn during the lockdown should serve as a wake-up call to Government and lead them to finally grasp the severity of the challenge and threat posed.”
