Transport Secretary Grant Shapps was tonight urged to end uncertainty over restarting international travel when the Government publishes its “traffic light” system on Friday
Non-essential trips to some foreign nations are set to be approved from May 17 when the regime is revealed, amid hopes for a greater reopening next month – paving the way for Brits to jet off on summer holidays abroad.
Mr Shapps last night held talks with fellow G7 transport ministers where, according to the Department for Transport, he “outlined the UK Government’s approach to reopening international travel through the recommendations of the Global Travel Taskforce report”.
The ministry also said Britain was at the forefront of plans for a vaccine passports to open up overseas travel.
It added: “The UK Government continues to play a leading role in the development of international standards around digital travel certifications.
“Work continues across the UK Government to prioritise a solution to enable passengers to prove their Covid-19 status for vaccines for outbound travel to another country.” Mr Shapps said: “If we’re to safely and sustainably restart international travel on a global scale we need a robust, accessible and coordinated approach.
“That’s why I’ve brought together my G7 counterparts to identify shared goals, address challenges we may face and progress work on a coordinated approach that will allow us to build back better as we look to the future.”
The Prospect union, which has 150,000 members including thousands in the aviation industry, called on the Cabinet Minister to offer hope to the battered sector.
It says “output by air transport services is still down 93% on the start of 2020” after planes were grounded and overseas travel banned.
Airports and airlines were forced to slash jobs as coronavirus tightened its grip last year – and the industry is yet to recover.
British Airways announced 13,000 redundancies, Virgin Atlantic cut 4,300 jobs and EasyJet shed up to 4,500 posts.
Prospect said the hammer blow of grounding aircraft was “bad news for aviation” – with “disastrous connotations for those sectors of the economy which rely on travel such as tourism, heritage, culture and the arts”.
Mr Shapps is under mounting pressure to deliver clarity and certainty for the sector when the traffic light regime, ranking countries red, amber or green for non-essential travel, is unveiled.
Prospect union general secretary Mike Clancy said: “Prospect has been calling for a specific support package for the aviation sector since the start of the pandemic, but despite warm words the Government has failed to deliver.
“As the clock ticks on May 17, industry and passengers still have no idea what travel will be able to resume that day.
“Normally this would be the beginning of an increasingly busy period for the sector but with strict border controls still in place and the Government seemingly unable to give any certainty to the sector there has been no bounce-back to speak of.
“The Government must act now to support the whole sector – airports, air traffic control and the supply chain, as well as airlines.
“If they don’t, lifeline services could be at risk, and in the longer term so many people will have left the industry it will hinder any recovery.
“Without a recovery for our aviation sector there will be no wider economic recovery, no levelling up, and our future as an international destination will be at risk.”
A Government spokesman said: “We recognise the challenging times facing the travel industry as a result of Covid-19, and have put in place a world beating support package, with around £7billion benefitting the air transport sector and helping ensure it is ready for lift off, once safe to do so.”
