Nicola Sturgeon accused by Edinburgh Airport of 'campaigning against aviation'

The chief executive of Scotland’s previously busiest airport today accused the First Minister of “campaigning against our industry” by urging Scots not to book summer holidays next year yet.

Edinburgh Airport is handling just 5 per cent of its normal passenger numbers. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

Gordon Dewar said: “Now we have the First Minister campaigning against our industry.”

He said Ms Sturgeon’s call yesterday not to book trips would further hamper aviation’s recovery from the pandemic.

Mr Dewar said it was already being set back by the UK being the only European country not operating a testing regime at airports.

Gordon Dewar accompanying Nicola Sturgeon as she officially opened an Edinburgh Airport terminal expansion in June last year. Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

He also said the Scottish tourism industry was threatened by “woefully inadequate” Covid vaccination plans.

However, the Scottish Government said the airport chief’s claims “could not be further from the truth”.

Mr Dewar said Edinburgh Airport, which normally handles 15 million passengers a year, had lost 95 per cent following the coronavirus outbreak.

The total was expected to be fall to no more than 3.5m this year and was forecast to increase to 7m at best in 2021.

Mr Dewar said the airport faced making a £15m loss and had had to make hundreds of staff redundant.

He told the Scottish Parliament’s Covid-19 committee: “We start even before this crisis being the least cost-effective country in the world because of our taxation regime.

"We arguably have one of the worst-managed Covid crisis in Europe if you judge it by any of the statistics around levels of infections and deaths.

"And we are now the slowest responding to aviation and tourism, right down to the fact that yesterday the First Minister actively called people to not book their summer holidays next year.

"Now we have the First Minister campaigning against our industry.

“All of that says that if I was an airline, I would be saying let’s forget about the UK next year – certainly let’s forget about putting in any of our faster start-up or our focus on the UK.

"We have got a huge opportunity because this country is apparently ahead in terms of scoping out and delivering a vaccine.

"But if you look at the plans for delivering that vaccine, we are woefully inadequate.”

He said he worried about the impact of that on Scotland’s tourism industry, much of which comprised family businesses.

Mr Dewar said: "Normally they struggle to get through a five-month winter.

"They are already on a 17-month winter because this summer has been written off, and effectively worse than the worst winter to date.

“Unless we get the vaccine deployed by early summer or late spring, we are actually going to be facing into a 29-month winter.

“There are very, very few companies in that sector that will survive that.

"And therefore even if you get [to] travel restrictions going by 2022, there will be nothing to service that, there will be no reason to come to Scotland.”

Labour MSP Monica Lennon, the committee’s deputy convener, asked Mr Dewar whether Ms Sturgeon and her officials weren’t just following the best available public health advice.

She said: “Surely the First Minister is not trying to do in your industry – what else would you expect the First Minister to say?”

Mr Dewar said: “I expect the First Minister to say how we’re going to get the vaccine rolled out in time for next summer so you won’t have to worry about that.

"We have got an extremely high probability that come March, we will have availability of vaccine, potentially multiple vaccines, in fridges in Scotland and no method of delivering them all and people are still dying of Covid, and there’ll be no prospect of taking away travel restrictions.

"If the First Minister’s assuming we’re not delivering the vaccine, then she’s probably right in saying don’t book your holiday because we’ll be one of the few countries left with extremely strict transport restrictions simply because we haven’t delivered the vaccine.”

The Scottish Government rubbished Mr Dewar’s claims.

A spokesperson said: “These claims are simply not true.

"It is precisely because we value the aviation and travel sector so much that the current measures won’t be in place for a moment longer than is necessary to protect public health and stop transmission of the virus.

“We absolutely do not underestimate the impact Covid-19 has had on the industry, which is why we are the only government in the UK to offer rates relief to the sector.

"We know how essential the aviation is to our economy and the challenges that are ahead in helping it to recover.

“Our decisions on testing and quarantine throughout this pandemic have been informed by clinical and scientific advice to minimise the risk to public health.

"While we have not yet made a decision, we are not yet satisfied that moving from quarantine to testing would provide enough protection.

“Meanwhile we are doing everything we can with the limited resources available to us to support the travel sector through the current crisis.”

The Scottish Government also dismissed the vaccination claims.

The spokesperson said: “This assertion could not be further from the truth and is not backed up by the facts.

"We have very robust plans in place for a nationwide vaccination programme which is already underway and will be ramped up considerably in the weeks and months ahead.

“In common with every other country, timescales will be affected by the available supply of vaccine and by regulatory approval of those not yet licensed for use.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article.

We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.