Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of omicron covid-19 variant on the travel sector; and whether he has had discussions with (a) officials in his Department and (b) Cabinet colleagues on sector specific economic support measures.

The Government recognises the challenging times facing the international travel sectors due to COVID-19. Additional temporary testing measures introduced in response to the Omicron variant have helped prevent additional cases of Omicron from entering the UK. Government recognises the impact these temporary health measures have had on the travel and aviation industry, and they were updated on 5 January.

Since the start of the pandemic, we estimate that the air transport sector (airlines, airport and related services) will have benefitted from around £8bn of government support.