LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - Britain's airlines want the
government's coronavirus wage support scheme to be extended
beyond June, maintaining the assistance for longer with a only
slow recovery in air travel expected.
Airlines UK, the industry's representative body, wrote to
the finance minister requesting an extension of the scheme,
which airlines including British Airways and easyJet
have used to furlough workers.
Under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the government
pays 80% of the wages of staff who are temporarily laid off, up
to 2,500 pounds a month.
Airlines, many of which have grounded the majority of their
fleets, have used the scheme to avoid making staff redundant in
the hope that when travel restrictions are eased and demand
returns, they can restart operations.
The scheme runs until the end of June, but the airlines want
it to be extended "to avoid aviation facing a cliff-edge
post-June, whilst services are scaled-up", Airlines UK said in
its letter.
Global industry body IATA has predicted a slow recovery in
air travel and warned that many airlines could go out of
business, with European traffic currently down by 90%.
UK-based airline Virgin Atlantic continues to talk to the
British government about a bailout package to help it survive.
Air travel faces a further headache as the government said
it was considering the possibility of requiring passengers to go
into quarantine for two weeks once they arrive in the UK.
Asked about the extension of the job retention scheme for
airlines, junior health minister Edward Argar told Sky News on
Monday that he knew the finance minister Rishi Sunak was keeping
the schemes under review.
"I know that the Chancellor is very, very aware of how
important the airline industry is," he said.
(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)