ERA calls for immediate air transport agreement to keep skies open Connectivity collapse as flights grounded unless EC and UK act now

• ERA (European Regions Airlines Association) has sent a letter to the European Commission urging it to take necessary measures in advance of the UK leaving the European Union.

• The letter highlights the need to prevent serious harm to European connectivity and reach a solution as soon as possible that will allow airlines to continue operating as they do today, enabling Europeans to continue benefiting from affordable and stress-free travel.

ERA, working on behalf of its 205 members – including 50 airlines – has urged that a ‘no-deal’ outcome could have disastrous consequences for the aviation industry, including the grounding of many flights across EU countries and the UK. Additionally, the association has highlighted that there would be a significant impact on many other critical areas of aviation, such as air services agreements, aviation safety and security, border management and environment.

“Now is the time to definitively confirm a reciprocal comprehensive agreement that protects the established pillars of European aviation,” says ERA’s Director General Montserrat Barriga. “ERA’s position on Brexit remains to ensure open and free traffic rights for all EU and UK carriers between the EU and the UK, that EASA regulations continue to apply to UK carriers and that the EU and UK carriers can continue to freely lease aircraft to each other.”

Andrew Kelly, President of ERA, adds: “Even if there is a deal, there is a lack of clarity about EU ownership rules that could potentially ground big and small airlines alike, unless there is some form of moratorium. Yet, we get the sense from the politicians and officials that on the morning of March 30, the aviation industry will wake up and go to work as usual, even if there is a hard Brexit. It won’t, it can’t and the UK and EU need to wake up to that fact now, before it’s too late.”