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Business Travel Sector Focus The latest news from the sectors that matter to business Aviation industry needs recovery plan
A detailed recovery plan is needed to help the aviation industry out of the Covid-19 crisis after stricter quarantine measures were announced, say business leaders. Travellers arriving into the UK
from 33 ‘red list’ countries now have to spend 10 days in quarantine hotels, under regulations announced last month. Those who fail to quarantine in
government-sanctioned hotels face fines of up to £10,000. Birmingham Airport says it is
braced for the arrival of a small number of passengers from ‘red list’ countries but is awaiting further details from government about operational requirements. Justine Howl, head of
communications at Birmingham Airport, said: “While we have always supported decisions to protect public health, including air travel corridors and testing, we now need an aviation recovery plan that sets
out how these measures will be lifted and how the government foresees the industry’s way out of this crisis, once safe to do so.”
‘Increased testing and tighter border controls will play an important part’
Chamber chief executive Paul
Faulkner said: “From a public health perspective – we can see the value in implementing the latest measures; increased testing and tighter border controls will play an important part in hopefully limiting the spread of the new Covid-19 variants. “Nevertheless, there are a
number of logistical challenges which need to be overcome if the policy is to be successful, in particular, managing the flow of
Birmingham Airport: Government support needed, says Chamber
travellers that have arrived from banned locations via third countries and ensuring that the divergence of UK and Irish quarantining policy doesn’t add to the maelstrom. “However, it’s also clear that the
latest measures will add to the economic woes that many of those
operating in the aviation industry and associated sectors are currently suffering – as we set out in our recent Back our Businesses plan, we can only hope the Chancellor does the right thing and offers direct financial support to those in the industry that need it the most.”
Full steam ahead for Aldridge railway station
Plans to give Aldridge its own railway station have moved forward after the West Midlands Combined Authority agreed a £400,000 investment to buy the land needed to build it. Bosses at Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), which is part of the
WMCA, want trains to serve Aldridge as part of a wider upgrade of rail services in the Black Country which is already set to get new stations at Darlaston and Willenhall. Aldridge had its own station for decades but was one of hundreds
closed under the controversial Beeching cuts of the 1960s. It is now hoped that two trains an hour could run from the new
station to Birmingham New Street and Walsall, with an estimated 500,000 passengers using the service annually. But for the scheme to progress, a parcel of NHS-owned land next to
the Anchor Meadow Health Centre off Westfield Drive is needed to make the project feasible. The £400,000 funding deal means the purchase of the site can now
go ahead within weeks. The investment comes after West Midlands mayor Andy Street asked the West Midlands Rail Executive (WMRE) to draw up a business case for the station in order to secure the funding needed to take the project to the next stage. The mayor said: “Securing this land means we can press ahead with
our plans to give Aldridge its own station for the first time in more than half a century. Alongside Aldridge we have Darlaston and Willenhall, which will be the first new stations to be built as the Walsall to Wolverhampton line re-opens to passengers, and we are also exploring the prospect of having a new station at Tettenhall. “All of these and more form part of our transport plan for the
region. Alongside new and expanded Metro lines and Very Light Rail in Coventry, both of which are at the heart of our transport plan, new and re-opened stations provide better transport links as well as helping to drive economic growth.”
54 CHAMBERLINK March 2021
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