Union leaders have accused some airlines of rushing Covid-19 risk assessments in their haste to restart flying.
Diane Holland, assistant general secretary for transport at trade union Unite, told MPs: “There is concern about two-metre distancing not being applied.”
Appearing before Parliament’s Transport Select Committee, Holland insisted: “We should start with risk assessments.”
She acknowledged: “Two-metre social distancing is extremely difficult in aviation, but you don’t start with the decision not to have it. You don’t start from the premise that it does not apply in aviation.”
British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa) general secretary Brian Strutton agreed, saying: “The implementation of risk assessments is extremely patchy. We are disappointed with some airlines on this.”
Holland said: “If you don’t fill the middle seats on planes, obviously that changes the economics.
“We’re happy to look at all alternatives that help keep people safe. [But] if people aren’t confident they won’t travel.”
Holland also described the government’s engagement with unions as “patchy”.
She told the committee: “It started poorly and got better, but a lot more could be done. We had to make the case for aviation unions to be part of discussions with the Department for Transport.”
Holland pointed out: “The [department’s] restart and recovery group involves all airlines, all airports, but there is just one union representative.”
Strutton said: “We’ve had a reasonable level of general contact, but we’ve lacked expert input. The people I represent are able to give expert insight to the department and we’re not able to.”
Richard Moriarty, chief executive of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), told the committee: “The central question is, how do we build confidence about restarting and recovery?
“There will need to be measures in place probably for some time that passengers and workers have confidence in.”