Business rates and National Insurance hikes 'really hurting' company, Southend Airport boss tells LBC
Jude Winstanley says the travel market remains 'very resilient' despite recent uncertainty over fuel prices and rising costs.
Business rates and National Insurance changes brought in by the government are "really hurting" London Southend Airport, its chief executive has warned.
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Jude Winstanley told LBC's Henry Riley that these are the things making it harder to invest back into jobs, the local community, infrastructure and growth.
"That would be my first message back to the UK government on that," he said.
Despite uncertainty over the last few months due to the Iran war, Mr Winstanley believes the worst of the travel uncertainty is largely over.
He said: "What we've seen over the last two to three months is that the market is still very resilient".
"We're expecting a really, really busy summer, probably our busiest summer ever. And as aviation fuel prices come down, that makes it easier for our customers, the airlines and their customers, the passengers, to travel over the coming months".
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"No industry likes uncertainty, and there was a degree of uncertainty through March and April as to what might happen".
But Mr Winstanley thinks for now "things seem to have stabilised" with oil prices coming down, which has "a big impact on airlines' future planning".
In terms of aviation fuel supplies, he believes there is "nothing to worry about from our perspective".
"I'm very pleased to say that we're not seeing any risk at all over the summer. So hopefully, that really helps people in terms of future price certainty for tickets and future availability for fuel".
Mr Winstanley is also positive regarding the EU entry-exit system, despite acknowledging there have been issues:
"There have been a number of high-profile incidents where people have missed flights, where there have been issues, and certainly we've seen some passengers flying back who have been impacted by the new rules".
But "overall it's working reasonably well".
He advises travellers to just be prepared: "If you're travelling back from the UK this summer, get to the airport a little bit earlier than you would normally, just to allow some extra time for queues if that's really necessary".