The government was accused of being “asleep at the wheel” during the Covid-19 crisis by the head of airport ground-handling company Swissport today.
Jason Holt, Swissport chief executive for Western Europe, told MPs: “The aviation system is in peril. We’re running out of cash and there is no coherence from the Treasury in relation to the aviation sector.”
Appearing before Parliament’s Transport Select Committee, Holt accused the Department for Transport (DfT) of “in some ways giving robotic answers”
He insisted: “We’re highly appreciative of the government’s Job Retention Scheme. But we would like to see clarity on the scheme going forward from August [and] we’re looking for flexibility. We have to be able to bring people back part time as the recovery happens.”
Holt said: “We need coherence from the government. But right now the government has not got a coherent strategy towards aviation.
“If the government remains asleep at the wheel our competitors will drive past us.”
Aviation minister Kelly Tolhurst denied the accusation, telling MPs: “I don’t recognise we have been asleep at the wheel. I have absolutely been available.”
She said: “The whole point of the [DfT’s] Restart and Recovery Group is to come up with a plan with the industry to restart and recover.
“We are working internationally. We are working with the industry. We have not been asleep at the wheel.”
Holt said the sector needed help with its cash flow, saying: “We don’t need bail-outs, we need cash flow management, such as VAT, PAYE, national insurance holidays. And we need better access to business interruption loans because the high street banks are not participating.”
He warned talk of quarantine “will strangle a business like mine and stop aviation”.
Asked whether the government would provide additional aid to aviation, Tolhurst said: “We’re not ruling out further support. There are businesses in aviation talking to us.
“Ultimately, whether the furlough scheme is extended rests with the Chancellor. I’m working with the sector to understand what is needed. We are not ruling anything out.
“But any government support needs to be equitable for the tax payer. The bar needs to be high.”
