Travel needs to return from April or some airlines might disappear, CEO says

The CEO of British aviation and energy firm Stobart Group warned that air travel needs to start again from April, or some airlines might vanish. “Airlines absolutely need a positive injection, and that means really from April, we need to get people traveling. I think without that, the government are probably going to need to support the airlines in fact, or they’ll disappear, you’ll get a consolidation of airlines,” Warwick Brady said Monday. “Unfortunately, for the traveling public that’ll be less choice and things will be much more expensive and I think it’ll be a big hit to the economy,” he added. Travel data company Cirium has estimated that 43 commercial airlines from across the globe have failed since January, but has also warned that the worst is not over. Stobart Group owns London Southend Airport and provides services such as baggage handling at other UK airports. Brady said free, 15-minute on-departure coronavirus testing at airports would help the aviation industry recover, after lockdowns and quarantine rules hit the industry hard. “Next summer is absolutely critical, and we believe that pre-departure testing plus the vaccine needs to get people traveling again, otherwise the economy is going to be significantly deteriorated … The government do need to step in, I think we need to make pre-departure testing free for all passengers departing UK airports,” Brady stated.<br/>