Airlines and airports in fresh aid package plea

Airline and airport groups have called on governments around the world to provide fresh aid packages for the beleaguered aviation industry.

They said they also want current quarantine arrangements to be replaced with a new testing regime.

Without these things, they said, the industry faces collapse.

The International Air Transport Association warned that airlines around the world faced a fall in revenues this year of $418bn (£322bn).

At the same event, Airport Council International (ACI) World said airports would see their own income fall by $104bn.

IATA director general Alexandre de Juniac said that financial aid packages granted by many countries to their aviation businesses earlier this year had been put together on the assumption that a recovery would be well underway by now.

That had not proven to be the case, and the sector was still suffering deep “financial trauma”, he said.

“Without a second tranche of financial aid, many airlines will not survive the winter”, he said.

Meanwhile ACI world director general Luis Felipe de Oliveira said that airports were also facing extreme financial pressure.

“We could see airports going bankrupt in a very short period of time”, he said.

“ACI and IATA are aligned in calling for urgent government action to introduce widespread and coordinated testing of passengers to enable quarantine requirements to be removed.

“Without this action, it is not an exaggeration that the industry is facing collapse”, he added.