Resulting from a number of letters to Scottish Ministers Kate Forbes (Finance) and Ivan McKee (Business), we have finally secured a meeting with Ivan on February 10th to discuss current issues including :
1/ Securing our share of support from funds granted by the Scottish Government to help businesses severely affected by restrictions at the end of 2021. We know the Minister is aware of the issues and we will be putting our case across strongly
2/ We have had a number of meetings with MSP’s since the beginning of 2022
and secured letters of support from MSP’s across the Parties at Holyrood
3/ We continue to work with the Scottish Government on their Aviation Group – where we have had some success with the easing of restrictions, and been able to lobby successfully for quicker alignment in a Four UK Nations approach.
On Thursday, at the Group’s bi-weekly meeting, we were able to discuss the great harm caused by the recent restrictions on our Members, with another Government official, and that has led to further engagement offline. (We were able to highlight again, the differences between inbound and outbound travel, and the value of outbound travel to the economy)
4/ We made a detailed Submission to the Scottish Government in response to their recent Consultation on a future Air Strategy. In the submission, we presented our thoughts on international and domestic air connectivity, and on the vital issue of carbon reduction
5/ We continue to work as Secretariat of Scotland’s Cross Party Aviation Group which presses Government to focus on the travel-related Covid-19 issues that still remain, and the need to create a coherent and comprehensive road-map to recovery, whilst also creating a framework for the longer-term.