Thank you for contacting me about Government financial assistance for airlines.
The aviation sector is important to the UK economy, and like other sectors of the economy it will be able to draw upon the unprecedented package of measures that the Chancellor has announced to support businesses through the coronavirus outbreak. He has written to airline operators advising them on the steps they could take if they come into financial difficulty and as a Transport Minister (although my responsibility is for rail services) I know the Secretary of State and officials are in regular calls with all sectors of the industry.
The Chancellor has rightly made it clear that while the Government is willing to consider the situation of individual firms, airlines must in the first instance have exhausted all other methods of help.
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