Airlines welcome Government decision on deferring Air Navigation charges, but further longer-term measures needed to help carriers through unprecedented downturn

April 8th, 2020

Responding to the decision by the Department for Transport to join countries across Europe in deferring the payment of Air Navigation charges for February to May 2020, for a period of 14 months, Tim Alderslade, Chief Executive of Airlines UK, the industry association representing UK-registered carriers, said:

“This is welcome news and we thank the Government for voting in favour for the proposals. Whilst it will help with short-term liquidity, it only refers to ATC charges for February to May, a period in which global aviation has virtually ground to a halt and charges for airlines would’ve been substantially reduced anyway. Further measures, including extending this deferral or ideally waiving ATC charges for the whole year, and doing likewise with other costs like CAA charges, will also be needed to help get airlines through this unprecedented downturn.”