Cash lifeline for Exeter Airport

It can apply for £8 million in January

Exeter Airport will be able to apply for government cash after its financial situation became perilous. Regional and City Airports, which owns Exeter recently pressed for support after a dramatic drop in business during 2020. It's made about a hundred people redundant at Exeter since the covid crisis began.

East Devon MP Simon Jupp, in whose constituency the airport is based, has lobbied the government to stump up cash and business rates relief for regional airports in England up to £8 million per airport. They'll be able to apply for help in January.
 
The announcement comes as the government unveils a new testing strategy to reduce the self-isolation period by at least a week. From 15 December, passengers arriving from countries not featured on the government’s travel corridor list will have the option to pay for a test after five days of self-isolation. If the test comes back negative, they no longer have to isolate.

MrJupp said: “I warmly welcome the decision by government to provide business rates relief for regional airports. I raised my concerns with the prime minister and chancellor after passenger numbers at Exeter Airport dropped by 95 per cent and they recognised the need to support our airport. Together with the new testing regime, the government is providing much needed support to help protect jobs and connectivity provided by Exeter Airport.”
 

Andrew Bell, chief executive of Regional & City Airports, said: “These announcements are a much-needed boost as aviation looks to bounce back from the greatest challenge it has ever faced, with regional airports having been amongst the hardest-hit sectors by the pandemic.

“A robust test-and-release system will boost the safe restart of international travel and increase consumer confidence. We welcome the work of the Global Travel Taskforce and look forward to building on this big step forward by working together on the next phases of pre-departure tests and the use of cheaper and faster testing methods to make international travel ever easier and ultimately eliminate any need for quarantine altogether.

“We are pleased the government has listened to our calls for business rates relief for airports. The measures announced today will provide much-needed support and we will continue to lobby hard and work with Government on what other steps can be taken to safeguard the UK’s regional airports.”