Britain's airline industry needs emergency government support worth up to £7.5bn to avert a catastrophe that would wipe out tens of thousands of jobs
Virgin Atlantic boss urges Boris Johnson to sanction £7.5bn airline bailout
Britain's airline industry needs emergency government support worth up to £7.5bn to avert a catastrophe that might wipe out tens of thousands of jobs, Boris Johnson are going to be told next week.
Sky News has learnt that Peter Norris, the chairman of Virgin Atlantic Airways' majority shareholder, Virgin Group, will write to the prime minister on Monday to warn that the world needs immediate aid to survive.
The bailout request will come before what could convince be the bloodiest week in British aviation history, with British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, easyJet and Ryanair all expected to announce mass groundings of aircraft and potentially huge redundancies because the COVID-19 crisis escalates.
Sources said that Mr Norris's letter - which is additionally understood to be being signed by Shai Weiss, Virgin Atlantic's chief executive - would ask the govt to supply airlines with a credit facility to assist them finance themselves through a potentially protracted period of negligible revenue.
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That support, which Mary chairman estimates would be worth between £5bn and £7.5bn across the industry, would come with cash advances and guarantees, also as other measures to make sure that mastercard companies don't still hoard revenue from airline bookings.
Under Mr Norris's blueprint, this emergency financing would be repaid once trading returns to more normal levels.
One source on the brink of the airline, which was founded by Sir Richard Branson in 1984, said that Mr Norris would also ask the PM to increase the timetable for allowing airlines to stay planes grounded without losing their prized take-off and landing slots for the whole summer season.
Sky News has learnt that Peter Norris, the chairman of Virgin Atlantic Airways' majority shareholder, Virgin Group, will write to the prime minister on Monday to warn that the world needs immediate aid to survive.
The bailout request will come before what could convince be the bloodiest week in British aviation history, with British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, easyJet and Ryanair all expected to announce mass groundings of aircraft and potentially huge redundancies because the COVID-19 crisis escalates.
Sources said that Mr Norris's letter - which is additionally understood to be being signed by Shai Weiss, Virgin Atlantic's chief executive - would ask the govt to supply airlines with a credit facility to assist them finance themselves through a potentially protracted period of negligible revenue.
preview image
COVID-19: The Scientific Advice
That support, which Mary chairman estimates would be worth between £5bn and £7.5bn across the industry, would come with cash advances and guarantees, also as other measures to make sure that mastercard companies don't still hoard revenue from airline bookings.
Under Mr Norris's blueprint, this emergency financing would be repaid once trading returns to more normal levels.
One source on the brink of the airline, which was founded by Sir Richard Branson in 1984, said that Mr Norris would also ask the PM to increase the timetable for allowing airlines to stay planes grounded without losing their prized take-off and landing slots for the whole summer season.
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