Recommendation 13

We asked the Department about the support it had provided the aviation industry during the pandemic. DfT told us that government had provided up to £8 billion of support to the aviation industry during the pandemic, but recognised that this was mostly the take-up of general support, from the furlough scheme, which was available to all industries. We also asked about the Department’s expectations for future demand for aviation, and of recent reports of long queues at airports. DfT told us that the industry had been surprised at the speed of recovery, and that on some estimates demand is 25% higher than what was expected, returning to 80% of 2019 levels. It explained that a large 16 Q 136; C&AG’s Report para 2.9 17 C&AG’s Report, para 2, Figure 1, para 2.9 18 MCP0001, Manchester-Airports-Group, 2022 19 Qq 139–140 20 C&AG’s Report para 3.16–3.18 21 Q 76 22 Q 115; C&AG’s report para 3.18 Managing cross-border travel during the COVID-19 pandemic 13 number of staff had been put on furlough and it had taken time for airports and airlines to rehire when demand returned, which had contributed to the disruption seen over the Easter 2022 period.23 23 Qq 117–123; C&AG’s report para 3.21 14 Managing cross-border travel during the COVID-19 pandemic 2 Protecting taxpayers’ money Managing the portfolio of programmes for implementing the measures