Aviation Sector

Maria Eagle Excerpts

Thursday 10th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Maria Eagle (Garston and Halewood) (Lab)]

I have Liverpool John Lennon airport in my constituency, so I would particularly like to congratulate the Chair of the Select Committee, the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Huw Merriman), and my hon. Friend the Member for Erith and Thamesmead (Abena Oppong-Asare) on obtaining this debate and giving me the opportunity to say something about what is happening there. I found myself agreeing with the former Transport Secretary, the right hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling)—a rare event—when he said that this involves a much broader range than just the airlines and the staff who work in the airports. We have air traffic controllers, ground handlers—it is Swissport at Liverpool John Lennon—and various retail outlets, many of whose staff are on furlough. There are also the airlines—mainly easyJet and Ryanair at Liverpool John Lennon—as well as airport security and other service providers, and that is just at the airport. I have not mentioned industries that service it, as the right hon. Gentleman did.

In addition, tourism and the visitor economy in Liverpool have been a huge part of the regeneration of the city. This has been dependent in part on the airport, and it was particularly boosted by our year as European capital of culture in 2008. It supports some 35,000 jobs in the industry. As John Irving, the chief executive officer of Liverpool airport, told me and as all parts of the sector have told the Government, aviation was one of the first sectors impacted by covid. The impacts are worldwide and ongoing, and therefore will be significant for some time, and full recovery post covid is likely to take a long time, with some people suggesting that volumes will not recover in the next two or three years.

So far, the impact has been bad: 15% of the jobs at my airport, John Lennon, have gone, with more redundancies not ruled out; easyJet, one of the main airlines there is making 70 redundant at Liverpool airport, despite having taken a £600 million loan from the Government and paid out £174 million in dividends to its shareholders at the beginning of furlough; and Swissport has 60 jobs at risk at the airport in my constituency. Many of the retailers who are still on furlough will face an uncertain future in October, and a significant number of security staff and others providing services in the airport find their jobs at risk.

Passenger numbers are 65% below what would be expected normally at this time, so ongoing difficulties cannot be ruled out, and the 14-day quarantine chopping and changing of arrangements from one week to the next simply generates uncertainty. On the lack of progress in finding a way forward on testing, I completely support what the former Prime Minister said. There is no adequate financial support for those who suddenly find themselves having to quarantine, and this adds to the uncertainty. We must have a sector-specific deal for aviation, and we must have a tapering or a continuation of the furlough scheme to make sure that this industry does not completely disappear in future months.