A STRING of the UK’s biggest airlines have challenged Westminster to ensure Brexit talks will include conditions that will allow them to operate across Europe without further limitations.
As part of a planned series of meetings with the UK’s major industries, the Department for Exiting the European Union will sit down with senior figures from the aviation industry to address the looming changes it can expect in the coming two years.
It has been reported that easyJet and British Airways are among the firms pressing the Government to allow unrestricted access to European markets through the “Open Skies” scheme.
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Since 1994, any EU airline has been free to fly between any two points in Europe, but the situation post-Brexit is one of the many issues that need to be addressed.
The UK today has the third-largest aviation network in the world, following the USA and China, carrying 144 million passengers and 1m tonnes of cargo in 2015.
In Washington DC last week, Willie Walsh, chief executive of IAG, which owns British Airways, told the Aviation Club that he plans to “press strongly” to maintain full access to international markets.
He said “anything short of Open Skies would be a massive retrograde step”.
In a statement today, a spokeswoman for IAG reiterated his concern.
“IAG will press strongly for the UK to maintain full access to international markets,” she said.
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“The best, and easiest, way to do that is for the UK and the EU to have a comprehensive Open Skies air transport agreement.”
Michael O’Leary, boss of Ireland’s Ryanair, has previously warned it was “highly unlikely” that the UK will be allowed to remain in the so-called Open Skies agreement.
Last week, he condemned the UK’s leave negotiations as being in an “utter mess” and accused Brexit Secretary David Davis and Boris Johnson of “sitting on their hands with no cards to play”.
The best chance for UK airlines to continue to enjoy access to the EU’s Open Skies, say lawyers at Norton Rose Fulbright, is for the UK to sign up to the European Common Aviation Area (ECAA), the Daily Telegraph has reported.
The UK already operates within the ECAA via its EU membership, but re-entering the single market on its own would require the UK to accept EU aviation laws and potentially those around the free movement of people.
Mr O’Leary has warned that once the UK leaves the EU there will be a reduction in the number of flights operating from the country, leading to price rises.
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It is said said Ryanair’s profits were up seven per cent in the first half of the year as it increased the number of passengers it expects to carry by 2024.
It is understood easyJet is among those preparing to fight to prevent limitations on air travel.
Analysts are expecting pre-tax profit to clock in at about £495 million for the full year to September 30, following a difficult 12 months that saw the airline grapple with the fallout of terror attacks, air traffic control strikes in France, political turmoil, and the post-Brexit vote collapse of the pound.
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