Poles will want to stay in Britain after Brexit: LOT CEO

Poles will want to stay in Britain after it leaves the EU, the CE of Polish state airline LOT said Tuesday, adding that Brexit would not have much impact on the airline sector if current policies were maintained. The number of EU workers in Britain dropped in late 2016 following Britain's vote to leave the EU, and a "leave" campaign that centred on restricting immigration. Around about a million Poles live in Britain, over 10 times the number that were in the UK when Poland joined the EU in 2004. Although Britain is now leaving the EU, LOT Polish Airlines CEO Rafal Milczarski said that he did not believe Polish people would want to leave Britain, adding that demand for flights would remain strong. "Britain is an attractive place for many Polish people ... I doubt that many Polish people will be leaving Britain, unless there is some UK government policy that will impose such a solution," Milczarski said in London. Britain will begin negotiations to leave the EU in June, and Milczarski said that he wanted to preserve the deregulated aviation market, known as Open Skies, which has increased competition and lowered consumer prices. He said that if a Brexit deal maintained that policy, then "not a lot will change." EasyJet CEO Carolyn McCall earlier said she was confident that flying rights would be secured in a post-Brexit world.<br/>