Since 1999 we are known as Seal & GO, but nowadays we are not GOing anywhere. Everyone should STAY. That is why, for now, we will be Seal & STAY. Please stay: stay at home, stay healthy, stay strong, stay alive, stay safe and keep faith. But to be Seal & Stay and to become Seal & Go again in the future, we need help.
Although we would love to go, we are sealed to our places, in lockdown or with other restrictions. The world is sealed. Air passenger traffic has been almost reduced to zero. Last week, in our home country – The Netherlands – we saw only 6,824 passengers arriving and departing from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. This is a drop of 98.4%. We would love to see our business go, but with this number of passengers you can imagine we have no customers at all. Only 6,824 people a week that could reach us. You will understand why we are closed. We need to stay and cannot go.
The airport industry was on the front line of being hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and will be the last to be back on track. The travel industry will start up slow and travelling will be the last thing to do again when we are slowly coming out of our lockdowns. That is why we will not be able to survive this on our own. Yes, there are government stimulus packages, but it is not enough to stay. Maybe for a while, but not on the long run. And this does not only apply to us, this applies to the entire airport industry, globally.
This is our urgent call to airport authorities and governments around the world. Let us stay, let us be Seal & Stay and let us be Seal & Go in the future again.
To stay we are not getting there with deferral of rent payments, with deferral of tax and other payments and support for paying wages only. It seems to be a satisfying way, but it is only delaying our problems. Seal & Go needs to stay healthy to be able to face the future. The airport industry needs to stay healthy. We need rent, MAG and concession relief for at least months, maybe even more. This should be full relief, meaning no payments at all and no deferral. Governments should be aware of the urgency to help. Airports will not survive without its business partners, the airlines, the retailers, the service providers, their staff. To be able to go in the future, we all need help now!
Dear family, friends, relatives, business partners, fellow retailers and service providers, our sister company Paolo Salotto, airports and governments, this is our shout out to the world. We are here to be Seal & Stay.
Keep faith, stay strong and stay safe.