If aviation safety arrangements have not been fully prepared to avoid any uncertainty over the legal status of UK-certified aircraft designs and parts, or aircraft maintenance approvals, pilot and technician licences, aircraft could be unable to fly, two trade groups have warned.

ADS and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) have written to European Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier to request that the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) begin technical and contingency planning discussions around aviation safety post-Brexit, separately from political negotiations.

The letter calls for the technical and contingency planning discussions to establish clarity on the relationship between the UK and the EU under the two most likely scenarios:

• The Withdrawal Agreement not being ratified before the UK leaves the EU, meaning no transition period coming into effect.
• The Withdrawal Agreement being ratified before the deadline at midnight 29 March 2019, meaning a transition period takes effect until 31 December 2020.

The letter notes: “As we are now less than one year from the UK’s exit from the EU, the concerns of our sectors are growing more pressing. The ongoing uncertainty on aviation safety arrangements means companies face being forced to make investment decisions in the coming weeks and months based on the worst-case scenario. This does not benefit the UK or the EU27, and the impact as these irreversible decisions are taken will be felt in supply chains and operations across the whole of Europe and beyond.”

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