Saturday, April 08, 2017
Could Brexit signal the end of cheap holidays abroad?
There in the category of 'I told you so' is the warning by Ryanair that it will have to halt flights from the UK for “weeks or months” if Theresa May does not seal an early bilateral Brexit deal on international aviation.
The Guardian reports that the company’s chief financial officer, Neil Sorahan believes that the suspension of flights from Stansted and other airports is “a very distinct possibility”.
He added: “In the worst-case scenario there will be no flights in or out of the UK to Europe for a period, for all carriers.
“There could be a situation where you’re going to have get comfortable with staycations for the summer of 2019: those trips down to Portugal and Spain, unless you can swim, aren’t really going to happen.”
As the papers says, Ryanair, a Dublin-based company, is legally allowed to operate out of the UK under a Europe-wide “open skies” regulation that allows all EU airlines and others in the “common travel area” including Morocco, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland to fly in and out of any country signed up to the pact.
The open skies policy binds EU members to regulatory oversight by the European court of justice and to freedom of movement, two red lines for the UK government in Brexit talks:
But Sorahan said that even if May changed her stance, Ryanair had to make contingency plans as the EU had said there could be no Brexit deal until all parts of the arrangement were agreed.
“Europe has been very clear in recent days that no deals are going to be put in place, they are not planning to put any special deals in place,” he said.
That could leave a lot of holiday makers stranded at home, not quite what we were told by the Brexiteers when they sold this pup to the British electorate.
The Guardian reports that the company’s chief financial officer, Neil Sorahan believes that the suspension of flights from Stansted and other airports is “a very distinct possibility”.
He added: “In the worst-case scenario there will be no flights in or out of the UK to Europe for a period, for all carriers.
“There could be a situation where you’re going to have get comfortable with staycations for the summer of 2019: those trips down to Portugal and Spain, unless you can swim, aren’t really going to happen.”
As the papers says, Ryanair, a Dublin-based company, is legally allowed to operate out of the UK under a Europe-wide “open skies” regulation that allows all EU airlines and others in the “common travel area” including Morocco, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland to fly in and out of any country signed up to the pact.
The open skies policy binds EU members to regulatory oversight by the European court of justice and to freedom of movement, two red lines for the UK government in Brexit talks:
But Sorahan said that even if May changed her stance, Ryanair had to make contingency plans as the EU had said there could be no Brexit deal until all parts of the arrangement were agreed.
“Europe has been very clear in recent days that no deals are going to be put in place, they are not planning to put any special deals in place,” he said.
That could leave a lot of holiday makers stranded at home, not quite what we were told by the Brexiteers when they sold this pup to the British electorate.
