‘ Preservation of what we have is the best outcome’

Ithink everyone can agree that the one thing business likes is certainty. And I’m sure that will be a phrase many of you will be bored of hearing or reading about but it’s true – they want to know what lies ahead so they can plan ahead. But there are many elements to Brexit that remain uncertain and that is something that is impacting on the industry.

The UK Government has actually been very clear about their desire to preserve what we have in terms of aviation rights because they recognise how important and beneficial the aviation industry is to the UK.

That’s hugely encouraging for the aviation industry because it is a major player in terms of the economy. However, the UK Government is only one party in two –

we need to strike a deal that is agreeable for both the UK Government and the European Union. And the one thing we do know for absolute certain is that we cannot get any better than it is today.

The UK is part of a single aviation market that allows flights to pass freely through European skies, connecting Scotland to the whole of Europe. But our access to that single market following Brexit remains unclear.

That in turn could also impact on the UK’S open skies agreement with the US, and we already know that American airlines have slowed back on growth into the UK although Edinburgh has bucked that trend in the last two years.

What does this mean? Well, to put it into context, the vast majority of growth at Edinburgh Airport is through international passengers. Last year was a record year for us, and for any Scottish airport, with 13.4 million people coming through the terminal – more than 8 million were international passengers, up almost 14 per cent in a year.

Those are flights from and to Europe and beyond, demonstrating their importance to our operations.

So, we need to ensure we have an agreement that allows us to continue that growth as we’re connecting businesses and executives as well as