UK airports renew business rates relief calls as job losses loom
The UK’s airports have renewed their calls for the government to scrap business rates as the near-complete collapse in passenger numbers due to the coronavirus pandemic continued.
The Airport Operators Association (AOA) today appealed to ministers to give airports a year of business rates relief in line with those received by members of the hospitality, retail and leisure sectors.
Although Scottish and Northern Irish airports have already had these payments waived, the Treasury is yet to extend the relief to their counterparts in England and Wales.
In a survey conducted last month, the AOA said that 20,000 jobs were at risk at airport operators unless urgent financial protection was provided.
When the impact on local business communities is included, it warned that the figure could grow to 110,000 employees.
Each year the UK’s airports pay around £210m in business rates, a third of which has been paid since the crisis began in March.
This morning Heathrow Airport called on the government to act faster to support the aviation industry, revealing that passenger numbers in June had fallen 95 per cent year on year.
It also criticised the government’s quarantine policy, despite the fact that in recent days the blanket 14-day isolation requirements have been lifted for travellers from nearly 60 countries.
In a statement, it said that “further pace was needed to move past quarantine” and urged the government to take a lead in developing common international standards for safe travel.
The airport has begun to consult on redundancies due to the continued slump in passenger numbers.
AOA chief executive Karen Dee called on the government to do “much more” to protect an industry which had suffered the “worst four months in its history”.
“Whilst many businesses have benefited from business rates relief, airports in England and Wales have been forgotten and this is constraining their ability to survive through continued restrictions imposed on their operations and to help power the economic recovery of the country”, she said.
“That our airports have been paying £500,000 in business rates every day during the lockdown reflects that the Government simply has not grasped the severity of the challenge and threat that the pandemic has posed and continues to pose to our sector”.