Tui Airways has resumed flights to holiday destinations including Ibiza where the managing director Dawn Wilson spoke to TTG media about her wishes for the UK furlough scheme to be extended beyond its current end date of October 31.
Wilson said that the airline had furloughed as many people as possible – at one point 85% of the entire workforce was on furlough since the pandemic crisis effectively grounded the airline. Since that time she has been slowly bringing people back as the airline routes expanded.
“The furlough scheme for us has been a really helpful thing from the chancellor – the government has done really well on that,” she told TTG. “We would like it to continue. Because our industry will be one of the last that gets back to a [more normal] position.
“We’re going into winter which is always tough anyway, and it will depend on our ski programme and long-haul as to how quickly we can bounce back,” she said.
Wilson has also called for a holiday in APD tax, which she says will stimulate the economy and the holiday market.