{"id":20150,"date":"2020-03-12T16:22:17","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T16:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=20150"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:44:30","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:44:30","slug":"southampton-airport-danger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=20150","title":{"rendered":"Southampton Airport at risk"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Southampton Airport is in \u00e2\u20ac\u0098imminent danger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00c2\u00a0of being forced to close\u00c2\u00a0without government intervention, Unite, the UK and Ireland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s largest union,\u00c2\u00a0warned\u00c2\u00a0today (March 12).<\/p>\n

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The union\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s call came as\u00c2\u00a0baggage handler\u00c2\u00a0Swissport told staff at the airport that it is planning cuts of around 40 per cent\u00c2\u00a0to\u00c2\u00a0its nearly 200 strong workforce.<\/p>\n

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Unite, which represents nearly 400 Southampton Airport staff across a number of\u00c2\u00a0employers, said the collapse of Flybe \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which accounted for 85 per cent of the airport\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flights \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and the impact coronavirus posed\u00c2\u00a0were\u00c2\u00a0an \u00e2\u20ac\u0098existential threat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00c2\u00a0to the airport\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future.<\/p>\n

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The union is calling on the government to protect Southampton, as well as other regional airports and the local economies that surround them, through the subsidisation of key routes, so that those previously operated by Flybe are rapidly filled by other carriers.<\/p>\n

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Other measures the government should introduce include the extension and creation of loans to airlines to ensure they can retain staff and routes until bookings recover and a delay in the payment of taxes and duties that airlines are obliged to pay.<\/p>\n

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Unite also believes that Southampton and other regional airports will need to insource key staff and operate a slimmed down operation until the industry recovers.<\/p>\n

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Unite regional officer Chris Gray said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is a very uncertain and rapidly changing period for the airport’s workforce and Unite is doing everything in its power to defend the\u00c2\u00a0jobs and interests of our members.<\/p>\n

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“When Flybe went under so did most of Southampton Airport\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work. This, combined with the spread of coronavirus, has left the airport in imminent danger,” he added.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSouthampton Airport can weather this storm, but it will require immediate government assistance to keep the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s airline industry up and running.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs well as being an important employer, Southampton Airport is a key hub for the region\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s economy.<\/p>\n

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“Ministers must step in\u00c2\u00a0and ensure the airport\u00c2\u00a0emerges after the current difficulties facing the industry have passed.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite is committed to working with Southampton Airport and looking at all options in order to maintain a functioning airport.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Southampton Airport is in \u00e2\u20ac\u0098imminent danger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00c2\u00a0of being forced to close\u00c2\u00a0without government intervention, Unite, the UK and Ireland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s largest union,\u00c2\u00a0warned\u00c2\u00a0today (March 12).   The union\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s call came as\u00c2\u00a0baggage handler\u00c2\u00a0Swissport told staff at the airport that it is planning cuts of around 40 per cent\u00c2\u00a0to\u00c2\u00a0its nearly 200 strong workforce.   Unite, which represents nearly 400 Southampton Airport […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20151,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[558],"wps_subtitle":"Southampton Airport in \u00e2\u20ac\u0098imminent danger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 without government intervention\u00c2\u00a0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20150"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20150"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24652,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20150\/revisions\/24652"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}