Shai Weiss, the chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, has
criticised the government for its lack of support for the travel industry and
slow action on reducing quarantine measures.
Speaking at ABTA’s Travel Convention, Weiss said the
government’s new global travel taskforce “should probably have come earlier”
and that “any one of us could have done things better, quicker and more
decisively”.
The airline boss called for urgent action to implement a
Covid testing regime that will help ease travel restrictions. “Without the
removal of quarantine we will not be able to take off as an economy. Our team
is now reviewing all the opportunities out there for rapid point-of-care
testing pre-departure to allow the UK economy to take off,” he said.
“This is going to be passenger-paid… and the cost will come
down rapidly. We’re cooperating with Heathrow and Collinson – they’re ready and
waiting. We’re looking at the best standards that will give customers
confidence to fly and governments to know that planes and travel and tourism do
not bring infections with them.”
Weiss continued: “We’re working across the [travel]
infrastructure to form a coalition that’s willing to explore what’s necessary
for this industry to take off. While we have our differences [with competitors],
we’re united in our desire to see the economic recovery of this great nation
move very rapidly.”
The airline has itself begun trialling the testing of its
staff pre-departure on several routes. Results are available in 30 minutes and
have led to two asymptomatic cases being identified to date.
Virgin, which has halved its workforce since the onset of
the pandemic, has also adapted its model to temporarily focus on cargo while
passenger demand is low.
“We’ve reversed the model right now. We’re flying planes
right now that have high cargo loads,” said Weiss, who added the airline is
also looking at more routes outside of its traditional transatlantic stomping
ground, pointing to the launch of flights to Pakistan in December. “The US has
been closed to non-US nationals and non-US residents since March so we’re
looking at other destinations.”