Virgin Atlantic is expected to lay down arms to become the first airline to fall prey to the aftermath of the novel COVD-19. The airline is expected to ask the government for a bailout worth hundreds of millions in pounds in the upcoming days. It will also additionally ask for funds when it comes to floating over the perilous days. However, the government came back with a response of only stepping in to help douse the fire only as a last-minute resort.
Virgin Atlantic had previously requested grants from the government in the term of £7.5 billion credit shares. This week however called on for some relied upon as the airline’s founder Richard Branson offered a capital infusion of £250 million into the Virgin Group, with most of the amount directed towards the airlines themselves. The major bulk of the flights rolling to and from the U.K are grounded amid the pandemic scare and some airlines like British Airways are still operating in terms of rescue operations to bring stranded Brits home.
Earlier in the week, the British government made their stance clear as they were not to provide any financial aid to the aviation industry at the moment. However, a Bank of England was put in place to provide subsidiaries to raise capital for employee salaries. In retrospect, the U.S Senate passed a $2 trillion bill that included a $58 billion (£46.6 billion) aid for their aviation industry specifically that includes cash for paying pilots, crews and staff salaries.
It is unclear whether the British government would come to the rescue of the stranded airlines, with Johnson himself being diagnosed with the novel virus strain. First ministers do indicate that an industry-wide bailout is on the cards, however, no official statement has been released in any capacity. Virgin Atlantic has gone public and quoted that they require a £7.5 billion bailout. However, at the time of writing, the government has only offered to offer a bespoke case-by-case help before they exhaust all their options.
