Need to get airport back on firm ground!

Airports provide essential infrastructure to support not only local, but regional social and economic growth as well as being commercial entities, capable of generating returns on investment to the Government, which in return, as in our case, to society as a whole.

But all this drastically changed with the world of coronavirus: lockdowns globally, and countries including our own were forced to observe to all forms of Covid measures, including banning non-essential travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic!

Airport Just About Ticking Over

The freeze on travel has been a major hit to the global airline industry, particularly, where the pandemic is having a ginormous impact on the aviation industry affecting passenger traffic, air cargo demand, airport workforce and importantly, incoming revenues!

At the moment the Gibraltar airport is just about ticking. Flights to the UK with easyJet were suspended in March, as were flights to Morocco. The Gibraltar Government had to go into some extensive talks with British Airways for the airline to continue providing a four flight a week service to the Rock.

This was an important political initiative by the Government and for Gibraltar to continue having a direct link with London and British Airways providing the important airlink: Gibraltar lifeline!

However, today… the operational effectiveness and main financial income of the airport, appears to mainly derive from the shipping industry, of all places. This with the inter-change of ship crews for the cruise industry. Who are exploiting Gibraltar handy geographically located airport and for the time being, using the Rock as its main hub for crew changes.

UK 14 day In bound Quarantine – Gibraltar Still Waiting Which Part of the UK Family it Belongs to?

The UK has anno-unced, that as from June 8, all inbound travellers will be required to enter a two-week quarantine period. Arriving passengers including UK nationals will have to provide an address where they will remain for 14 days. Staying in hotels or with friends or family will be allowed.

The UK has published a very long list of exceptions from these self-isolation requirements, which includes flight crews, as well as all passengers arriving from Ireland and the Channels Islands. BUT… it does not include Gibraltar, who supposedly, is part of the UK family, which part of the UK family is yet to be determined. Not as close as I thought…anyways!!!

The Government of Gibraltar, is still waiting for the UK government to decide if it will except this so-called UK family member, with the lowest infection rate in Europe and no deaths. In fact, it should be Gibraltar who should much more concerned about passengers arriving from the UK!

In yesterday’s press conference from No 6, Chief Minster Fabian Picardo said that the ‘UK has decided not to create any exclusions on its 14-day quarantine rules but discussions continue about possible air bridges. However, there are exclusions for sponsored patients and few other examples where people need to move quickly’. Though the CM did not elaborate any further.

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02-06-2020 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR