The International Air Transport Association, said the scale of the crisis facing the airline industry is now greater than at the time of the 9/11 attacks on the US. KPMG predicts a £200m loss in traffic revenues as a result of the UK shutdown if ticket sales have to be refunded to passengers.

Prompting the industry to start piling on the pressure to get flying again.

In the PR stunt of the week, Willie Walsh, BA’s chief executive, took to the air with four crew in a three-hour test flight from London, over the Atlantic, to Cardiff, to push the message.

And Jo Gillespie, an aviation safety expert, told the Daily Telegraph: “Without having the data to back up the decision this looks like an overreaction and is hugely damaging to the already suffering airline industry.”

Don’t expect the ban to be lifted in a hurry though. Money v safety = easy choice. Even if it wasn’t election time, flight safety is too big a risk for politicians to take chances with. Estimated cost to the economy so far… £500m and counting; number of plane crashes so far… nil.