Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on airports in (a) the North West and (b) other regions.

The aviation sector is important to the UK economy and the government recognises the challenging times facing the sector as a result of COVID-19. The Government continues to work closely with airports to support them to ensure there is sufficient capacity to protect global travel routes, to continue repatriation and freight, and to maintain vital connectivity.

The aviation sector will be able to draw upon the unprecedented package of measures announced by the Chancellor. We have been clear that if individual companies find themselves in trouble as a result of coronavirus and have exhausted the measures already available to them, then we are prepared to enter discussions with individual companies seeking bespoke support as a last resort. However, any intervention would need to represent value for money for taxpayers.