RUTH SUNDERLAND argues the Government should step in to rescue struggling aviation industry

For the millions of people whose travel plans have been thrown into disarray by coronavirus, pleas from Virgin Atlantic for a multi-billion-pound taxpayer bailout will be greeted with deep distrust.

Galling as it is, however, the Government should stand ready to rescue the industry in order to get through the immediate crisis and to help the economy bounce back when, God willing, it is over.

Airlines have done precious little over the past few fraught weeks to endear themselves to the public.

Passengers have been left stranded overseas, told to make their own way to alternative airports long distances away and struggled to obtain refunds.

Instead of sympathy and understanding, they have too often encountered ill-informed staff and a general attitude of ‘computer says no’.

Many of us are resigned to having to bear the costs of ruined holidays ourselves, rather than face the sheer hassle of it all.

Now, those very same airlines are demanding the Government hands over vast sums of OUR money in bailouts, at a time when people are already anxious about their jobs and their savings.

It hasn’t helped that the first to hold out the begging bowl is Virgin, which is part-owned by US giant Delta and partly by billionaire Sir Richard Branson.

The tycoon famously lives on his own private tax haven island of Necker in the Caribbean and his businesses do not seem the most deserving case for a handout.

But the Government should ride to the rescue regardless, not for his sake, but for all our sakes.

The aviation industry is at serious risk of collapse and that would make our already dire predicament much worse.

Alex Cruz, the chief executive of British Airways, has not asked for a bailout – yet – but he has warned the survival of the national flag carrier is at stake.

If British Airways is to fail, confidence on the stock market would be shattered and it could cause collateral damage to engine makers such as Rolls-Royce.

It would also dash hopes of the tourism and hospitality sector – already in desperate straits – being able to revive when life returns to normal.

The last thing we need in the middle of the pandemic is for major airlines to go bust and the chaos that would inevitably ensue.

Thousands of blameless staff would lose their jobs and be flung into financial hardship. It could also jeopardise the delivery of vital medical cargoes. 

Hard though it is to see beyond the present darkness, the world will one day, hopefully in the not too distant future, start to open up again. 

When that day comes, we will need a healthy airline industry to prosper post-Brexit.

I believe in capitalism, therefore I am implacably opposed to bailing out those whose problems have been caused by incompetence, corruption or complacency.

Capitalism has to be, on the whole, Darwinian. Useless companies should not be endlessly propped up, but allowed to perish in order to make way for better ones.

That is not the case this time. Unlike the banks in the financial crisis, which were the architects of their own downfall, the aviation industry’s wounds are not self-inflicted. 

Coronavirus is entirely out of its control.

British Airways, our most important airline, made nearly £2billion in the most recent financial year.

It would be a national tragedy if an inherently profitable company, which is crucial for promoting Brand Britain abroad, is allowed to become a corporate casualty of this vile virus.

Back in 2008, policymakers recognised that however greedy and repulsive the banks’ behaviour had been, they were too big to fail.

Airlines are far more deserving of help than the rotten lenders and also too important to be abandoned. The alternative is too awful to contemplate.