ACI Europe Director General Olivier Jankovec has issued concerns over any potential return to previously existing bilateral air service agreements between Europe and the UK in the wake of Brexit.

Speaking to members of the press during a briefing at the ACI Economics and Finance Conference in London last week, Jankovec questioned the validity and execution of reverting to rules established at the time of Europe’s single aviation market formation.

“The problem for the aviation sector, contrary to other sectors, is we don’t have World Trade Organisation rules to fall back on,” he stated.

“When we’ve asked Brexit negotiators what we fall back upon, the assumption is we would fall back under old bilateral agreements.”

The question, Jankovec says, is whether these rules are still in force legally, and if so, do they have the legal basis to be reactivated.

NEGOTIATING MANDATE

Understanding what is contained within those agreements in terms of market access is another question.

“We would assume that they are much more restrictive than what we have today, which means that some of the air services operating today would lose their legal basis and would no longer be permitted based on these old bilateral agreements,” he said.

“What is clear is so far nobody has done the work of mapping this possibility in terms of what rights are in those old bilaterals.

“Of course we would prefer not to fall back on these and get some kind of transition agreement that somehow, what we have today can be safeguarded and continued, but I think realistically what we hear is there is no transitional agreement.”

Jankovec admitted he did not know whether all 27 member states of the EU want the UK to have unfettered access to Europe.

“I think the Brexit negotiating team has not asked that question yet. What they’ve told us is they are focused on negotiating exit terms, not on revising what could be the new relationship between the UK and the EU 27.”

ACI Europe  made clear that it is awaiting a negotiating mandate to be warranted by the European Council and agreed among the 27 member states before being passed to the European Commission as a ‘roadmap’ for objectives.

As reported earlier this month, UK Prime Minister Theresa May was given an effective mandate by the UK House of Lords to trigger Article 50 and commence Britain’s formal exit from the EU, the notification of which is due at the end of March.

Jankovec says the approval of the mandate should take place within weeks of the UK giving this notification.

‘CLIFF-EDGED’ SITUATION ON 2-YEAR DEADLINE

During the conference, ACI Europe put out a formal statement expressing worries that a failure to negotiate exit terms between the UK and EU within the 2-year period could result in any aviation deal being hamstrung, leaving it to fall back on the old bilateral agreements.

The ‘sequencing’ of negotiations means talks will initially focus on agreeing exit terms before any new relationship between the UK and EU is defined in 2019.

ACI says this implication will leave aviation ‘in the dark’ for months to come before anything is resolved.

“As a responsible business, we simply cannot rule out a cliff-edged scenario for Brexit and aviation,” Jankovec said.

“The potential impact of this on air connectivity, consumers, and the wider economy needs to be addressed by Brexit negotiators – on both sides.

“This means that adequate contingencies need to be established promptly in case the UK would exit the EU without any agreement on its future relationship with the bloc.”

Grounded planes, Jankovec says, would be the “worst case scenario” in any outcome, but he says the association has received some assurances from negotiators on both sides.

ACI Europe previously pointed to its desire to have Britain fully integrated into the European aviation market following Brexit, but the UK’s government’s stance on breaking from the single market has raised doubts on the realism of such a move.

“If we can’t retain full integration, we want a solution where we remain as fully integrated as possible,” Jankovec added.

Angela Gittens, ACI World Director General asked:“For airports what does it mean for their carriers and what relationship with their alliances does this mean? That’s unclear.”

Watch out for a full conference report and exclusive interview with ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Director Patti Chau on intra-regional airport growth in the May print issue of TRBusiness.

To read a detailed report on the possible return of UK duty free allowances, be sure to read the March print issue.