Brexit: London tightens the tone for airlines

This is not the first time that airlines have worried about the concrete consequences of Brexit, but London has rarely been so clear: British and European Union airlines will automatically lose the right to fly to the territory of the other side if Britain leaves the block without a separation agreement, the government warned on Monday, which means that flights could potentially be blocked. The next few weeks will tell us whether business travellers should prefer the train…

Will Brexit reorganize the European sky?
EasyJet has already integrated bases in Europe, Ryanair (Irish) also, on the other hand British has not officially anticipated a hard Brexit, even if the headquarters of its holding company IAG is in Madrid. However, the political tone is getting tougher and London officially underlined on Monday that « If the United Kingdom leaves the EU in March 2019 without an agreement, licensed British and European airlines will automatically lose the right to operate air services between the United Kingdom and the EU without prior authorisation ».

Flight rights to, from and within the European Union, as well as between the United States and Great Britain, are currently covered by Europe-wide « Open Skies » agreements, but this arrangement is compromised by Brexit. In its latest notice of non-acceptance of the European position, the government said on Monday that the planes would be grounded because the air licences issued by the EU would not be valid and that airlines would have to « apply for individual authorisations » to operate with their respective states.

The government hopes to conclude a « no concessions » agreement with the EU to keep flights in the air, the report published in London states, stressing that « EU licensed airlines would lose the ability to operate entirely in the United Kingdom (e. g. from Heathrow to Edinburgh) and UK licensed airlines would lose the ability to operate intra-EU air services (from Milan to Paris) ».

This would also affect flights from Europe to the United Kingdom and US airlines connecting to Europe via British partner airlines such as British Airways.

As a gesture of goodwill, the government says it would grant EU airlines permission to land at British airports and hopes that Member States will do the same. « It would not be in the interest of any EU country or the United Kingdom to restrict the choice of destinations that could be served, but if these authorisations are not granted, some flights could be disrupted, » the government writes.

The government claims that there would be no disruption of air traffic control in British airspace since this is guaranteed by international conventions.