On the Government’s announcement of its testing strategy for international arrivals and business rates relief for airports, Andrew Bell, Chief Executive of Regional & City Airports, said:
“These announcements are a much-needed boost as aviation looks to bounce back from the greatest challenge it has ever faced, with regional airports having been amongst the hardest-hit sectors by the pandemic.
“A robust test-and-release system will boost the safe restart of international travel and increase consumer confidence. We welcome the work of the Global Travel Taskforce and look forward to building on this big step forward by working together on the next phases of pre-departure tests and the use of cheaper and faster testing methods to make international travel ever easier and ultimately eliminate any need for quarantine altogether.
“We are pleased the Government has listened to our calls for business rates relief for airports. The measures announced today will provide much-needed support and we will continue to lobby hard and work with Government on what other steps can be taken to safeguard the UK’s regional airports.”