‘UK aviation shut down’: pilots’ union demands action from PM

The government’s travel restrictions have effectively shut down UK aviation and “permanently damaged” the careers and livelihoods of thousands of travel industry employees: that is the claim from the leading pilots’ union in a letter to the prime minister. The British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa) has written to Boris Johnson saying that coronavirus lockdown decisions “have huge knock-on effects, and in the case of the air transport industry, extremely serious ones”. Brian Strutton, the general secretary of Balpa, wrote: “Government policy has effectively shut down UK aviation. We understand the reasoning behind those decisions, but the effects have already been disastrous. Covid has seen permanent closure of Flybe and Norwegian Air UK. Thousands of pilots in airlines across the country have lost their careers or are furloughed, along with tens of thousands of other front-line staff members These are the same people who, in the face of this terrible virus, repatriated British citizens and ensured important cargo made it to the UK to protect the NHS and save lives. Now their careers and livelihoods have been permanently damaged.” Strutton described calls by ministers not to book summer holidays as “damaging”.<br/>