The Airport and Ground Operators Support Scheme has paid out £86.9m to eligible companies affected by COVID-19 since applications opened four months ago.

Aviation and Maritime Minister Robert Courts said commercial airports had received over £65m, and ground handlers had received over £21.8m ‘in recognition of their fixed costs and the impacts of COVID-19 on their revenue’.

Applications for the scheme opened at the end of January and closed on 21 February. Payments were made for business’ COVID losses for the 2020/21 financial year.

Mr Courts said: “The Government remains committed to supporting the sector and has recently announced the scheme will be renewed for the first six months of the financial year 2021/22.”

News of the payments is bound to cause upset among the agent community, who tweeted Transport Secretary Grant Shapps when he announced the scheme was open back in January, asking for a similar support scheme for travel agents.