RADICAL action is needed to make sure the aviation industry has a viable future after the current crisis and to safeguard hundreds of thousands of jobs, according to Unite.

The union has written to the government setting out a blueprint for the future of the sector.

Unite said it is inevitable that the industry must change and that there could be consolidations across all parts of the sector, which will need government finance.

The government will have to provide loans and/or take a financial stake in companies, which would then be prohibited from paying dividends, undertaking share buybacks or capital contributions, until 12 months after the loan is fully repaid, said the union.

Other measures should include capping executive pay, and protecting employment with any job losses restricted to 10 per cent or less, Unite said.

Financial support and loans should only be provided on the condition that recipients have a clear programme of transition to more efficient and greener travel operations, it added.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: “Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, aviation has continued to play a vital role delivering critically needed supplies such as medicines, as well as repatriating citizens from around the world.

“What is clear is that the UK aviation sector will not simply fully restart once the lockdown ends, and if we are to have the viable industry that the UK needs and which provides hundreds of thousands of jobs, further radical action is required.

“The UK’s aviation sector can and will have a viable future, but it is going to look very different to what existed prior to the pandemic.

“We need a sector which meets the needs of the economy and the public rather than that of shareholders and directors, while at the same time maintaining employment.”