who is pandemic in the lockdowns that
have followed we're always going to take
an incredible toll on the travel and
tourism sector was Atkins has more
details on this hi Ross hi Babita yes as
we've watching this pandemic play out of
course is impacting on lots of different
industries Travel being one of them and
today Virgin Atlantic confirmed what we
thought would be coming in some form
it's going to cut 3,000 jobs in the UK
it also says it won't restart its
operations from Gatwick Airport bear in
mind they've been suspended since this
pandemic began first of all let's hear
the reaction of air in Hazelhurst from
BBC business they're gonna have to cut
nearly 30 percent nearly 30 percent of
their workforce 3115 jobs to go out of a
workforce of some 10,000 this off the
back of British Airways announcing not
that long ago it may have to cut up to
twelve thousand jobs and all of this you
know in an environment where 80 percent
of flying has been reduced by 80 percent
all around the world or some 17,000
passenger jets parked mothballed all
around at airports all over the world so
look we this is an industry that has
absolutely been clobbered by this virus
and as I said you can certainly expect
to see more job cuts from more Airlines
to come there's Erin next let's hear
from the BBC's Transport correspondent
Tom Burrage Virgin Atlantic is fighting
to survive it's applied for a bailout
from the British government of hundreds
of millions of pounds potentially that
process is ongoing but as one senior
executive at the airline put it to me
tonight they said normally they're quite
good at forecasting but at the moment
they simply don't have a reliable
crystal ball things are that uncertain
but they do believe they predict that
passenger numbers won't return to
pre-pandemic levels until 2023
but that's seen behind me on the tarmac
at Gatwick says it all an empty runway
we've seen two flights take off in the
last hour or so that could be
repatriation flights a bit unclear but
really think about the cost of
maintaining those aircraft
parking them up is pricey too and at the
moment very few of them are making any
money
now some airlines are warning that
travelers may have to pay a lot more for
tickets whenever flights properly
resumed they say if social distancing
measures are in place fewer seats can be
used and so there will be fewer
passengers to share the cost though not
everyone buys into that analysis what we
can be more sure of is the IATA the
global body that represents Airlines has
today said it does support passengers
wearing face masks but it doesn't
support leaving the middle seat free it
says this will not improve passenger
safety and this is a very current issue
at the moment many of you will have seen
pictures from a flight between Belfast
and London on the Irish airline Aer
Lingus they've been very widely shared
as you're about to see it was just about
full and in fact air Lingus has since
announced it will put on five more
flights a week here's the story from our
Island correspondent Emma Vardi it was
these pictures taken by a worker
travelling from Belfast to London which
have added to mounting concerns over the
way airlines are operating during the
lockdown no basis whatsoever none
whatsoever
Gordon appear in the queue during the
steps and heard on the tarmac as the
word before all this happened no change
whatsoever since restrictions were
imposed the number of daily flights has
fallen by around 80 percent some 60
flights a day now arrive at London
Heathrow compared to 600 a day before
the pandemic but there's no policy
capping passenger numbers Aer Lingus has
said there was unexpectedly high demand
on the day those pictures were taken and
that it's now urgently reviewing its
procedures onboard but others in the
industry have warned that on a plane
social distancing is basically
impossible
we don't believe social distancing on
aircraft actually works and there are
two reasons for that one of which is the
obvious economic one the second of which
is around the air-conditioning system
was on aeroplanes which rely in part on
recycling air within the cabin that
simply defeats the purpose of social
distancing the bbc's also heard from one
member of British Airways cabin crew who
told us ba are also still operating some
short haul flights at capacity and as
these images from Paris to Madrid today
show other airlines are similarly flying
with full cabins the International Air
Transport Association recommended safety
measures such as masks but says limiting
passenger numbers would push up fares
neutralizing seats on an aircraft could
have an enormous negative impact and
could lead to an increase up to 55% in
fare reviving the aviation industry will
be important to the country's economic
recovery but the government said it must
be done responsibly these are some of
the big real challenges that we've got
to grapple with but the safety of people
has got to come first
there's predictions passenger numbers
may not return to previous levels for
several years and currently no standard
approach for how to operate onboard
Emma Vardi BBC News Belfast now has an
interesting idea New Zealand's Prime
Minister Jacinda own joined Australia's
cabinet meeting via videolink
earlier she made it clear that New
Zealand will not have open borders with
the rest of the world for a long time to
come in her words but the idea they
discussed was what's being called a
trans-tasman bubble the idea here is
that people would be able to go between
Australia and New Zealand freely and
without quarantine here is the Prime
Minister outlining the plan the whole
purpose of us discussing the possibility
of having a bubble of sorts between us a
safe zone of travel would be so that you
wouldn't have to have a quarantine
attached I think everyone would
acknowledge that it would be prohibitive
people just wouldn't travel if they had
to stay on either side in quarantine and
for for a two-week period and have to do
the same again when you return there are
lots of different elements to how
travels being impacted all around the
world and really what we're seeing here
is evidence of a much broader trend that
the disruption from this virus is not
just comprehensive it's also long-term
and that's going to have profound
consequences for how we live and also
per B so for their businesses and the
industries that we all use