UK airports risk falling behind their competitors in Europe after losing £10 billion in revenue in the two years since the pandemic started.
A new report from the Airport Operators Association (AOA) revealed the scale of losses faced by UK airports and the fact that they have taken on more than £4 billion in debt to see themselves through the Covid-19 crisis.
The report found that 2021 was worse than 2020 for UK airports with the lowest passenger numbers (64.3 million) recorded since 1983; while European airports saw higher passenger numbers last year than during 2020 as EU countries lifted their travel restrictions more quickly than in the UK.
AOA also highlighted how airports in Germany, Italy and Ireland have received “nearly eight times” as much financial support during the pandemic as UK airports.
Karen Dee, AOA’s chief executive, said: “Airports have suffered huge revenue losses and had to take on significant amounts of debt to keep operations going.
“They come out of this pandemic in worse financial health than many of our European and US competitors, placing the UK at a disadvantage in recovering our pre-pandemic connectivity.
“The UK and devolved governments should set out a comprehensive aviation recovery package to boost the UK’s chances to make a success of the recovery.”
AOA is calling for several measures to boost UK airports, including a 12-month “holiday” for Air Passenger Duty (APD) payments to encourage airlines to re-establish UK routes, as well as a route development support package.
“We will be competing fiercely with other countries for the return of airlines and routes. We cannot afford the UK to lag behind our global competitors,” added Dee.