DEMAND for air travel could be higher than before after lockdown ends – but the UK’s air sector may no longer be able to meet it.

MPs on Westminster’s Travel Select Committee took evidence from travel experts yesterday.

They were told that customer demands for refunds for trips that can no longer be taken due to the pandemic could topple “many” firms.

And the chief executive of Heathrow Airport cautioned that rivals in France and Germany could swoop in to take key business from the London hub if the UK Government does not set a clear course for the sector.

Travel trade body Abta says UK companies face paying back around £4.5 billion under EU rules set out to protect consumers.

Would-be holidaymakers are entitled to refunds within 14 days for package breaks, with some firms offering credit notes in a bid to convince customers to rebook at a later date once lockdown has been lifted, instead of claiming their cash back.

But many travel firms are not making payouts within that timeframe because they are waiting to receive back the money they had passed on to airlines for flights.

Yesterday the hashtag #RefundPassengers was trending on Twitter as users went public with their frustrations over payments for trips they now cannot take.

On the outlook post-pandemic, Mark Tanzer, chief executive of Abta, said the appetite for travel “is still going to be there or maybe even intensified after lockdown”.

But he claimed “an awful lot of travel companies” will collapse if clients insist on refunds and called for Westminster to pay some of the cash if it will not relax the 14-day rule.

He told the committee: “The way to save travel companies and jobs is for the government to intervene directly at some point for a properly administered system, to say, ‘we will prepay those refunds where the company can’t pay it’.”

The UK’s aviation sector is the third biggest in the world.

But John Holland-Kaye, the chief executive of Heathrow Airport, said rival airports in Paris or Frankfurt will try to win cargo contracts unless the UK Government acts to protect the industry.

He said: “Aviation is the cornerstone of the UK economy, and to restart the economy the government needs to help restart aviation.”