Lufthansa warns Brexit will hurt UK airlines as EU gets tough
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr expects France and Germany to take a hard line in Brexit negotiations concerning UK aviation, threatening to disrupt flight connections across Europe before new agreements take hold. “Brexit means Brexit -- our industry won’t be exempt,” said Spohr, who has accompanied Chancellor Angela Merkel on state visits and discussed the matter with German, French and European Union officials. “The basic approach is for every industry to say ‘hey, let’s pretend that nothing has happened.’ That’s something the governments, and also the EU Commission, won’t go along with. You can be sure about that, from what I hear.’’ Services between the UK and EU nations could require new bilateral agreements once it leaves. In addition, British carriers that fly from one European state to another -- a right enshrined in the bloc’s founding principles, later developed into the so-called Common Aviation Area -- will probably require an operating license based somewhere on the continent. The UK is set to exit the single market two years after the divorce process is officially triggered on Wednesday. It’ll be “virtually impossible” for governments to reach a comprehensive agreement in the time available for talks, said Spohr, who has led Germany’s largest airline since May 2014. That means there’ll be a transition period with likely disruptions as the sector adjusts to new rules, he said. A German transport ministry representative recently told a group of lawmakers at a closed meeting in Berlin that Britain will probably have to forgo the status quo in some aviation arenas, and that new deals will need to be negotiated, according to a person who attended the discussion and asked not to be identified because the gathering wasn’t open to the public. That could include the EU’s Single European Sky air-navigation initiative to unify the region’s airspace -- even though Eurocontrol, which is leading the drive and of which Britain is a member, is not an EU institution.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2017-03-29/star/lufthansa-warns-brexit-will-hurt-uk-airlines-as-eu-gets-tough
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Lufthansa warns Brexit will hurt UK airlines as EU gets tough
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr expects France and Germany to take a hard line in Brexit negotiations concerning UK aviation, threatening to disrupt flight connections across Europe before new agreements take hold. “Brexit means Brexit -- our industry won’t be exempt,” said Spohr, who has accompanied Chancellor Angela Merkel on state visits and discussed the matter with German, French and European Union officials. “The basic approach is for every industry to say ‘hey, let’s pretend that nothing has happened.’ That’s something the governments, and also the EU Commission, won’t go along with. You can be sure about that, from what I hear.’’ Services between the UK and EU nations could require new bilateral agreements once it leaves. In addition, British carriers that fly from one European state to another -- a right enshrined in the bloc’s founding principles, later developed into the so-called Common Aviation Area -- will probably require an operating license based somewhere on the continent. The UK is set to exit the single market two years after the divorce process is officially triggered on Wednesday. It’ll be “virtually impossible” for governments to reach a comprehensive agreement in the time available for talks, said Spohr, who has led Germany’s largest airline since May 2014. That means there’ll be a transition period with likely disruptions as the sector adjusts to new rules, he said. A German transport ministry representative recently told a group of lawmakers at a closed meeting in Berlin that Britain will probably have to forgo the status quo in some aviation arenas, and that new deals will need to be negotiated, according to a person who attended the discussion and asked not to be identified because the gathering wasn’t open to the public. That could include the EU’s Single European Sky air-navigation initiative to unify the region’s airspace -- even though Eurocontrol, which is leading the drive and of which Britain is a member, is not an EU institution.<br/>
