Ms Catriona Jones:

The reality is that cabin crew have been essential workers throughout the pandemic without the protection of vaccination or other protections that can be put in place in a normal workplace. Aircraft cannot be altered in the same way a shop floor or till area can be. You cannot simply put in screens. We have gone to work each day and been exposed, as such. The nature of the regulations that govern workplaces do not, unfortunately, always apply to the aviation sector. It has left us exposed. Many cabin crew do their jobs as a vocation and are passionate about what they do. Many of them do not think twice when they go out there and they know that many people are travelling for essential reasons at the moment. They are travelling for emergencies and deaths, to visit people who are sick and for absolutely essential business reasons. We are conscious of that and want to be there to support people who want to travel.

The Deputy raised an important point. Much of our workforce is quite young. I understand the rationale that is being used to prioritise age during the roll-out of vaccines. However, our workforce is exposed in a way others are not. It would be great to get recognition of that from the vaccination programme. Many of those in our workforce are in their 20s and, as we have known throughout the pandemic, someone of that age is not necessarily immune to the effects of the disease. It is important to us. We want to continue delivering safety in the service about which we are passionate. At the same time, we want the protections we need. We will need those protections more than ever if aviation can take off shortly, as we hope will be the case.