No Brexit flights deal, no take-off
Failure to reach agreement will ground planes
Flights will be grounded if the UK fails to agree an aviation deal with the EU, a senior official has warned.
Britain is set to leave the European Union on Friday and Boris Johnson has insisted he will not extend the transition period that follows beyond the end of 2020.
Dermot Ryan, a member of cabinet of the EU Commissioner for Trade, has said that will leave airlines unable to fly between the UK and Europe if a new agreement isn’t in place on time. He said: “There are consequences to those issues which are left outstanding at the end of the year.
“If, for example, there is no agreement on aviation, then aircraft are grounded. That is a simple consequence of there not being an agreement on aviation rules. Aircraf t cannot f ly between the UK and the EU.
“The negotiations will open on all the chapters of the negotiating mandate. At some point a decision might have to be taken about what we go ahead with before the end of the year.
“The consequences of there not being an agreement on goods is greater than the consequences of there not being an agreement on services. If you don’t have an agreement on goods, you have tariffs.”
Ryan also revealed the EU is appointing a chief trade enforcement officer to ensure the rules of future trade deals are not breached.
Johnson had boasted that there would be no checks on products moving between Northern Ireland and the UK after Brexit – seemingly cont radic t ing h is ow n Withdrawal Agreement.
Ryan added: “They will be appointed very soon.”
He also played down the chances of the UK Government achieving an easy deal with the United States.
Ryan said: “The idea that Trump will do Johnson some sort of a sweetheart deal is not the way the US operates.
“You will be back into hormone beef and chlorinated chicken.”