Corona virus and its effects on GLA

[big ears]

Jet2 offering us a 10% discount for a booking....

[will1983]

LS & EZY both delaying restart until May.

[Clive]

Reaction from Derek Provan on today's announcement on the Scottish Government's "plan."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-scotland-56154389

Derek Provan, the chief executive of AGS Airports, the company which owns Aberdeen International, Glasgow and Southampton airports, takes a swipe at Nicola Sturgeon's route map.

He compares her announcement to the one made on Monday by Boris Johnson for England and says while the PM provided a "clear framework for the safe restart of international aviation", the first minister had provided "a clear message the aviation industry is not a priority for the Scottish government".

He said that his industry was handed no plan or framework against which they can start plotting any form of recovery.

This sends a very worrying signal to our airports, our airlines and the thousands of staff our sector supports. We find ourselves in a position where airports and airlines in England can start planning to safely reopen in time for the summer, yet in Scotland we are left with more questions than answers. It is now two weeks since the Scottish government committed to setting up an aviation working group and it has still to meet. This lack of meaningful engagement cannot continue.

Provan is correct about one thing. The aviation industry is not a priority for the Scottish government. Public health, limiting the pandemic and saving lives is. Opening up all different sectors of the economy will follow as soon as it’s safe to do so.

If Provan wants a reckless Tory government which has presided over the worst per capita death rate in the developed world then he knows where he can find one.

[sunflyer]

Ryanair also May

[Allen McL]

Surely this is a case of 'look after the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves' ? I'd have thought getting the populace vaccinated and safe would drive demand for airport activity, not really rocket science is it ?

[Clive]

Surely this is a case of 'look after the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves' ? I'd have thought getting the populace vaccinated and safe would drive demand for airport activity, not really rocket science is it ?

Yeah what do they want - a half arsed spring break with more dead and future lockdowns or a near 100% mid to late summer onwards with customers who are still alive?

I cannot stand hearing from any of the vested interests who think their line of business trumps life itself. And I say that as someone who is desperate to travel, see family and friends, go to bars and above all go back to gigs.

[Clive]

I cannot stand hearing from any of the vested interests who think their line of business trumps life itself.

Except no industry is saying that. GLA, and the aviation industry as a whole, simply want the government to engage with them and come up with a sensible plan for recovery. They want to know what the data needs to look like so they can have some sense of when operations can ramp up. They want to protect the thousands and thousands of jobs in the industry and the thousands and thousands of connected non-aviation jobs. If the government continue to ignore the aviation industry (or worse, continue to demonise it), there's going to be thousands of people unemployed, a mountain of mental health issues and long queues at the foodbanks and soup kitchens. That doesn't sound like utopia to me!

Yup and the same for every other business in every other industry. See what I mean about vested interests?

BTW, if all goes well we will be flying again sooner than you think. The Scot Gov just will not give false promises or dates which might not be able to be kept to. Boris has made a rod for his own back. Yet again.

[Clive]

Yup and the same for every other business in every other industry. See what I mean about vested interests?

BTW, if all goes well we will be flying again sooner than you think. The Scot Gov just will not give false promises or dates which might not be able to be kept to. Boris has made a rod for his own back. Yet again.

Of course it's the same for every industry. I'm talking about GLA and the aviation industry because this is a GLA forum. At the moment, the Scottish Government aren't even engaging with the aviation industry. The industry just wants to know what the plan is and what the data needs to look like to begin opening up. Ignoring the industry, as well as demonising it, is just going to result in thousands and thousands of lost jobs and livelihoods. At the moment we're getting the worst of both worlds - no real benefit to public health (people will travel via England + mental health problems + other health issues) and the imminent collapse of the aviation industry in Scotland.

Unfortunately unrestricted international travel is the viruses best friend. It just is. We need to beat it. So does the destination country.

All different industries think the government is out to punish them. Nothing could be further from the truth. The sooner we beat the virus the sooner everything gets back to normal.

Today was good news about the route out of lockdown because measures since Xmas are working and the vaccine is a game changer.

[atuk]

[quote=Clive post_id=3243 time=<a href="tel:1614116149">1614116149</a> user_id=2]Unfortunately unrestricted international travel is the viruses best friend. It just is. We need to beat it. So does the destination country.

No one's talking about going from where we are today, straight to unrestricted travel. GLA, and aviation in Scotland, simply wants the government to engage with them and tell them what the plan is so that thousands and thousands of jobs and livelihoods aren't lost. No plan = no aviation industry in Scotland.
[/quote]

Absolutely couldn’t agree more. With more and more folks being vaccinated, I had mine today, the chances are that there will be more protection against Covid. In fact there was press yesterday stating that early results are encouraging. What folks need is a degree of certainty of how things can start up again.

I personally see lots of pent up demand for holidays. Many folks are desperate to be able to look forward to positive news not simply being told, or ignored, that you won’t be able to do this, that or the other.

This isn’t selfishness it’s human need. As weefraz has said job losses, mental health, food banks, and there is every chance that large businesses will simply not survive this lockdown.

Who then will pay for the Public Sector? If England succeeds with June 21st and we are kept in lockdown in Scotland, being unable to move from Tier 3 then there won’t be rumblings if discontent there will be civil unrest.

We live in a democracy. It’s about time our Government understood this and engaged with business bosses to ensure we have a successful outcome, not just for health but for people’s wealth too.

[buddyboy]

Yesterday the first minister had the chance to offer a wee bit of hope and put her money where her mouth is re being "data driven not dates driven". Why she didn't actually use data such as when we hit
X figure for infections we will look to release y, when the transmission rate drops below X we will do y is beyond me. Instead we basically were promised a return to the tiers for who knows how long. It would allow people to have some idea of where we are going rather than essentially never ending restrictions.

In terms of differences between Scotland and England. We currently have a lower infection rate. The public will find the restrictions impossible if England open at a faster rate. That's just human nature.

Finally the positive news. There have been 2 studies in Israel (most vaccinated country) showing that the vaccines are reducing transmission by around 90%. That's the important bit. If data in the UK backs this then I imagine things will speed up.