Thousands of flights would be cancelled by no-deal Brexit as departures capped at 2018 levels

A no-deal Brexit could cause the cancellation of thousands of flights between the UK and the EU next year, because departures would be capped at 2018 levels. Disappointed passengers who thought they had firm bookings to Spain, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Greece and other destinations could find their tickets cancelled. While the cost would be automatically refunded, they would then need to compete for scarce seats and could face higher fares. The crucial condition in the European legislation reads: “The total seasonal capacity to be provided by UK air carriers for routes between the United Kingdom and each member state shall not exceed the total number of frequencies operated by those carriers on those routes during respectively the IATA winter and summer seasons of the year of 2018.” In other words: the number of flights from the UK to each member state cannot increase from the levels prevailing this summer. If there were 200 weekly flights on UK airlines between Britain and Cyprus in 2018, no British carrier could add departures. Air travel from the UK to the EU was expected to expand significantly next year, with British Airways, easyJet and Jet2 among the British carriers announcing dozens of new routes and increased frequencies, amounting to thousands of extra flights in summer 2019 and the winter season 2019-20.<br/>