Wednesday 7 October

Reacting to the establishment of a 'Global Travel Taskforce' by the Government, to identify Covid-19 airport testing options 'to reduce the self-isolation period while protecting public health', LCCI CEO Richard Burge, said:

“The aviation and tourism sectors of course welcome the Government wanting to discuss solutions regarding airport testing and the ‘quarantine’ period. But whilst this is a complex matter, I’m sure many businesses will feel that today’s announcement is yet more discussion at a point when action is overdue.

“The industry has invested in researching and proposing privately funded testing options, and what’s important now is that the Taskforce and the Government rapidly agree what tests are viable, along with a consistent standard throughout the UK, and introduce a system which isn’t detrimental to the already struggling Test and Trace system.

“The UK is lagging well behind other nations when it comes to airport testing. As a consequence our economic recovery is also laboured. There will be no full economic recovery, regional levelling up, nor Global Britain, without a fully functioning aviation sector supported by the right airport testing.”