Following the Chancellor of the Exchequer's statement on the Government’s economic package in response to the covid-19 outbreak, James Sunderland raises concerns about the future of commercial airlines and calls for more support for the aviation sector.
James Sunderland calls on Chancellor to provider more support for the UK aviation sector.
James Sunderland (Bracknell) (Con)
The Chancellor will be aware of widespread concern about the future of our commercial airlines—not least in constituencies such as mine near Heathrow, Gatwick and other major hubs. The CEO of International Airlines Group appeared yesterday before the Transport Committee and made it clear that job losses at British Airways were only being considered as a direct result of the pandemic. What further support might be available from the Government for UK aviation?
Rishi Sunak
Companies in the aviation sector, like all others, can benefit from the considerable range of support measures already announced—indeed, I know that many companies in the sector are benefiting currently from the jobs retention programme. Of course, individual companies have the opportunity to engage with the Government on a bilateral basis, where that is appropriate, but it obviously would not be right for me to comment on those conversations.