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Manchester Airports Group (MAG) has called on government to kickstart the recovery of the aviation sector by delivering on promises to remove remaining travel testing requirement.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced that the 11 ‘red list’ countries in Southern Africa will be removed from the list from 4am on 15th December on the grounds that it is no longer an effective measure in curbing the spread of the Omicron variant in the UK. MAG is now calling on government to extend this approach to life requirements for international arrivals to take both a private pre-departure and Day 2 PCR test.
The call comes following data from the airport operator revealed November passenger numbers remained at 58% of pre-pandemic numbers, and fell by more than a quarter in the two weeks since enhanced testing requirements were reintroduced.
MAG served 2.2 million passengers in November across Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports. The month was the second consecutive month of less onerous travel restrictions, and the same month in which leisure travel could resume between the UK and USA.
The number of passengers served in November was more than 20% higher than in September, demonstrating the demand for international travel and that cost, inconvenience and uncertainty of restrictions were the primary barrier for passengers over the summer months, where traffic remained 80% down on 2019 levels.
Charlie Cornish, MAG CEO said:
“Our passenger performance in November showed how consumer confidence grew strongly as soon as restrictions on international travel were lifted.
“Our industry supported the re-introduction of testing requirements, which have done their part in slowing the arrival of the Omicron variant.
“However, now there is widespread domestic transmission of the variant across the UK, there can no longer be any justification for maintaining these costly and damaging restrictions.
“The news that all countries will be removed from the red list is positive recognition that they serve little purpose once the variant is circulating widely, but the same is true for the testing requirements which remain.
“Aviation has been hit harder by Covid measures than any other part of the economy. The latest testing requirements are already undermining the strong recovery we were starting to see.
“We need the Government to act swiftly to minimise the disruption to travel and reduce the costs for families travelling over the Christmas, as well as supporting the recovery of our critically-important sector.”