Government bailouts for airlines have been mooted, including for Virgin Atlantic, based in Crawley. Butler’s former employer, burning through £40m a week as its planes sit idle, will benefit from a £600m government-backed loan.
If the Norwegians really want NAS to survive, they must put their hands in their pockets, it's all very well spouting along the lines of UK jobs etc etc, but their transport minister heralds the income the airline bring to THEIR economy.. not UK, the UK is merely a convenient launch pad for operations.
In normal times, Gatwick adds about £2.3bn to Britain’s economy each year. More than 250 firms employ 24,000 staff at duty-free shops, pubs, restaurants, car hire and bureaux de change. A further 20,000 work in the supply chain. Nobody wants to see anyone fail, but the UK government is already stretched and at the end of this mess (if there is an end!) its the UK tax payers and economy that will suffer. The papers say OSM doesn't have money to pay crews, isn't OSM another NAS company? If you want to play with the big boys you need a viable and sustainable business model.. not a wing and a prayer ..