“Despite the devastating impact the pandemic has had on UK airports’ finances, airport leaders remain committed to our net-zero emissions by 2050 target.

“As we recover from the pandemic, there is a real opportunity to build back better and return to 2019 passenger levels while reducing environmental impacts.

“Government and industry need to work together to achieve this, with the recent government funding for the next stage of airspace modernisation a step in the right direction. The UK Government should use its planned Aviation Strategic Framework to outline how they will further support industry’s efforts.

“The AOA has set out that this should include a Green Airports Fund to help fund sustainability initiatives while airports’ finances recover from the significant losses of the last two years.”

“Momentum toward normalising traffic is growing. Vaccinated travellers have the potential to travel much more extensively, with fewer hassles than even a few weeks ago. 

"We need to further accelerate the removal of travel restrictions. While recent progress is impressive, the world remains far from 2019 levels of connectivity. Thirteen of the top 50 travel markets still do not provide easy access to all vaccinated travelers.

“Travel restrictions have not stopped the spread of the virus. And it is time for their removal as we learn to live and travel in a world that will have risks of Covid-19 for the foreseeable future.

"In nearly all cases, travelers don’t bring any more risk to a market than is already there. Many governments have recognised this already and removed restrictions. Many more need to follow,”