For the last year we have seen our industry ravaged by COVID-19 and as we approach what would traditionally have been the busy summer season, the strength of feeling amongst the pilot community has built.

BALPA through out has been the voice of pilots… lobbying, negotiating and sending out the message that UK aviation needs help. The #TravelDayOfAction was part of that ongoing activity with events across the UK, as  this BLOG by BALPA Executive President Paul Naylor explains.

In the far flung reaches of Scotland, BALPA rallied the troops, worked with representatives of other travel organisations and put together a plan to ensure it wasn’t just politicians in Westminster who were made to listen.

On the day BALPA members from Jet2, Ryanair, Tui and easyJet joined forces with whole Scottish travel industry to bring our voice to the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, Edinburgh. I was really blown away by how members answered the call and turned out in uniform to support.

Several MSPs came out to listen to the speakers and engaged with our members to hear your stories and  our message. It was clear all the major opposition parties heard our call. It was an honour to be the spokesperson for BALPA, the media interest was considerable, showing just how the public want to hear from pilots.

This is not the end of our work and we are continuing to use the contacts and momentum that we have built to hammer home the message that the aviation industry is vital and needs support now.