EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren has criticised the UK government for presiding over such a high death rate from Covid-19 while inflicting the most economic harm among major economies.
And the easyJet chief hit out at the government for its continuing failure to provide sector-specific support to the aviation and travel industries.
Lundgren praised the “tremendous success” of the UK vaccination programme, but he said: “If you take a step back, it’s not a flattering picture.”
Speaking on a Travel Weekly webcast, Lundgren said the UK “came with the most deaths. It has also suffered the most from the economic point of view if you look at GDP.
“So that trade-off theory that you could either focus on the economy and live with a bigger health issue or focus on health and your economy will suffer – that doesn’t work.”
He insisted: “That is a big problem here in the UK, that we’ve had more deaths and the economic damage has been greater.
“Now there is no doubt the roll-out of the vaccination programme has been a tremendous success. [But] the restrictions have been worse in the UK.
“It’s not great to be in the travel sector in the UK and while this was pointed out to the government, there is still not a dedicated support package for this industry. That is hard to accept. It is difficult to get your head around why that is the case.”
Lundgren argued: “Many other countries have invested a lot more in this industry. That is not a matter of opinion – that is a fact.
“So there are reasons to bring that to the attention of the government.
“Ultimately, we hope there will be a package [for the industry] and they will specify dedicated support for the sector because we need it.
“It has been illegal to buy the product and services of people in this industry and that is not the case in other countries to the same extent at all.”
Lundgren criticised the Budget on March 3 as “an obvious missed opportunity”.
He said: “It was an opportunity to set out specific support.
“The government pointed out very early on this epidemic that the aviation sector was the hardest hit. And still, we are yet to see specific support dedicated to the sector.
“They don’t recognise the industry for the value it is creating and the damage taking place.
“We need to move from words to actions. The damage is done. It’s not like it’s something that is going to happen. If you’re looking at travel agencies and tour operators and airlines to survive this, all companies have needed to take on huge amounts of debt.”
He insisted: “It doesn’t change the fact that we will continue to argue and discuss and engage with the government. We do understand they have a difficult job, that there are very many competing priorities.
“But what I don’t understand is that travel has been identified as the worst-hit sector and there has been support given to other sectors. There is a mismatch there.”