THERE is a risk of an exodus of Scottish holidaymakers making their way to England to travel abroad unless the Scottish Government moves in step with the wider UK Government on the return of international travel.

That is the warning from aviation experts today who say that Holyrood must fully commit to a four nations approach to the return of travel abroad.

The UK Government has proposed May 17 as the earliest date that international travel can resume as part of a traffic light system for countries which meet its criteria for vaccination and Covid figures.

But First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s pronouncements on the matter last week raised fears that Scotland could be left behind.

She said: “We probably opened up international travel too quickly, so we allowed the virus to reseed into our domestic population.

“I think it is important we try the best we can to avoid that in the weeks and months ahead.

“In Scotland we insist that people quarantine in managed isolation wherever in the world they come from if they come directly into Scotland, and we continue to try to persuade the UK Government to take a similar approach.

“Because we mustn’t allow the progress we are making domestically to be undermined by too lax a position on international travel.”

However, that stance has been challenged by Scottish airports, with Glasgow Airport warning that routes will disappear and jobs will continue to be lost unless international travel resumes soon.

A Glasgow Airport spokesperson said: “We must have a four nations approach. We can’t have England opening up before anywhere else.

“Airlines have said to the Scottish Government and have said to us that they will move to where there is demand and passengers will go where there is demand.

“And now that you can cross borders you would think that people would go to Manchester, Newcastle and so on to travel out.

“And we have said all along that we cannot have that because Scotland has spent decades building up hard-fought connectivity of its own.”

The cost to jobs from Covid at the airport has been huge and the fear is that they have not seen the worst of it yet.

The spokesperson continued: “Across the Glasgow Airport campus we had about 6000 people pre-Covid and they’re down to about 4000 now.

“So, a third of the workforce across all these hundred odd companies who work at the campus has left and it will only get worse.

“We’re very concerned, will there even be a summer season this year and this, of course, is an airport’s busiest period.”

Glasgow Airport insists that it is ready to welcome customers back.

The spokesman added: “We always have been ready. We’ve put proposals to the Scottish Government months ago.

“We’ve said since the beginning of this pandemic that testing is crucial but what we were always told was that nothing is as effective as 14 days quarantine.

“But we knew that if you had tests on everyone coming in and out of the airport, coming in and out of the country, you would know more. With quarantine you don’t know if they have the virus or not but if you tested people, you would.”

THE spokesperson also put the case for the safety of aeroplanes themselves, adding: “Apparently it’s the equivalent of a hospital surgery room the way the air is pumped through an aircraft so there was a lot of myth busting there.”

The airport’s call is echoed by beleaguered travel agents across the country.

The Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association (Spaa) has placed travel on the table for discussion for political parties striving for our votes for next month’s Holyrood elections by compiling an 11-point manifesto.

And commitment to a four nations approach and testing is at the forefront.

Spaa president Joanne Dooey said: “Scottish travel cannot recover without a joined-up and cohesive approach within its own ecosystem and the newly elected Scottish Government must open its ears to listen to businesses of all shapes and sizes across the industry.”

The Spaa is represented on the Scottish Aviation Working Group and recently welcomed the initial outline of the Global Task Force plans.

The Spaa has also been lobbying throughout the pandemic for a four nations approach to the return of international travel, affordable and acceptable testing, a clear traffic lights system and a vaccine passport programme.

She added: “We need to see progress on the vaccine certificate proposals.

“Health certification to prove

vaccinations status for outbound international travel is essential but in addition, there needs, initially, to be an accepted form of a paper health certificate which would then result

in a digital pass such as the International Air Transport Association’s (Iata) travel pass, or a similar system which will need to be globally accepted.

“International collaboration and agreement of these schemes is

imperative.”

BARRHEAD Travel, Scotland’s largest independent travel group, has suffered with its customers during the year of Covid.

Its president Jacqueline Dobson said: “Covid has been devastating for the travel industry in the UK, and a clear joined-up roadmap out of the pandemic is vital to restoring traveller confidence.

“Anything other than a four nations approach could risk Scottish holidaymakers facing a choice of between no travel or travelling from an English airport.

“The safety of our customers and staff remains our priority as it has done throughout the pandemic.

“The input of industry stakeholders will be pivotal to getting this right, and we look forward to engaging constructively with the Scottish Government in the coming weeks to ensure that Scots holidaymakers are not disadvantaged.

“We’re also encouraging the UK Government to follow through on its commitment to reviewing testing costs in order to make travel affordable and accessible to all.”