European Commission’s Notice to Stakeholders - Withdrawal of the United Kingdom and EU rules in the field of air transport
The Commission wishes to draw stakeholder's attention to the possibility of the case of what is known as a "No Deal Brexit". In that regard, the European Commission’s Notice to Stakeholders - Withdrawal of the United Kingdom and EU rules in the field of air transport was published in January 2018. This document can be viewed here.
The European Commission notice sets out the negative impact of a “No Deal Brexit” on air transport. In particular, U.K. licensed air carriers, post Brexit, will no longer be the holders of a European Union air carrier licence. This means they will no longer have free access to routes within the European Union. Specifically, they will no longer enjoy the right to pick up passengers in Ireland and fly them to another European Union Member State such as Spain, Portugal, France or Italy.
The Commission has contacted all Irish travel agent and tour operator licence holders to remind them that it is important that they ensure that the air carrier with which they contract for the performance of flights on their behalf is the holder of an air carrier licence that entitles it to fly the routes set out in the contract. Otherwise, if the carrier is prevented from so doing on the grounds that it is not legally entitled to perform those flights, the licence holder may be unable to fulfil their contractual obligations to their customers, which may result in a call on their bond and subsequent loss of their licence.
The Commission is calling on all Irish travel agent and tour operator licence holders to ensure that they have contracts in place with air carriers for 2019 and beyond that will be fulfilled in the event of a “No Deal Brexit”.