Liverpool Airport receives £34m loan from combined authority due to Covid-19 impact
Liverpool John Lennon Airport (JLA) is to get a loan of £34m from the city region combined authority to help give it stability during the Covid crisis. The funding was approved at a meeting of the combined authority on Friday, with the airport described as a “vital strategic infrastructure asset for the city region”. The Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said: “International connectivity is essential for the local economy and the roles of international gateways such as ports, airports and cruise terminals as economic hubs and drivers for local economies and tourism need to be maximised.” ie. good to have people flying abroad for their holidays… The airport it indirectly supports around 6,000 local jobs, providing £250m per annum in economic impact, (not counting the contribution to the UK’s tourism deficit…) The 10 Greater Manchester local authorities are also lending £250 million to the Manchester Airports Group (MAG) to help then with the Covid pandemic. This is from money borrowed at a low interest rate from government.
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Liverpool John Lennon Airport receives £34m loan from combined authority as severe Covid-19 impact on travel industry continues
The airport was described as a ‘vital strategic infrastructure asset’
31.7.2020
Tom Houghton Business Editor, Liverpool Echo and BusinessLive
Liverpool John Lennon Airport (JLA) is to loan £34m from the city region combined authority to help give it stability during the coronavirus crisis currently hitting the travel industry.
The funding was approved at a meeting of the combined authority on Friday, with the airport described as a “vital strategic infrastructure asset for the city region”.
Announcing the funding for JLA, Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said: “International connectivity is essential for the local economy and the roles of international gateways such as ports, airports and cruise terminals as economic hubs and drivers for local economies and tourism need to be maximised.
“That is why it is right that today we have agreed this loan facility to provide stability for the airport, its passengers and other users during the Covid-19 recovery period.”
Along with the wider aviation sector, the Covid-19 pandemic means that JLA has experienced a “material adverse effect” on its business, with passenger numbers plummeting and holiday firms and airlines reducing their services.
The airport supports around 6,000 local jobs, providing £250m per annum in economic impact, and was described as the authority as an “important facility” for residents.
https://www.business-live.co.uk/economic-development/liverpool-john-lennon-airport-receives-18695733
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See earlier:
Manchester Airports Group to get £260m that its 10 council owners borrow from government
In the absence so far of financial support from government, the ten Greater Manchester local authorities – which have a majority stake (64.5%) in the Manchester Airports Group (MAG) – are planning to borrow themselves in order to lend £250 million to it. MAG owns Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports. The councils have privately agreed to take out significant levels of low-interest borrowing from the government’s loan board. They may not start to see any repayments for a couple of years, but are hoping that by that point it will have returned to some semblance of normality. Manchester council is expected to provide the biggest share of the loan package, at around £143m, in line with its larger stake in the company. It is understood the other nine boroughs are expected to put in £13m each. Senior local authority figures said the move was aimed at protecting significant long-term town hall investment in the airport, along with safeguarding tens of thousands of jobs that rely on it as a major engine of the local economy. Manchester airport still has a couple of arriving flights per day. It is possible that as many as 50,000 jobs may be directly, or indirectly, linked to the airports. If the sector has to shrink in future, many of those jobs may be lost.
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