BACA reacts to PM's statement on EASA membership

Prime minister Theresa May wants to explore with the EU the terms on which the UK could remain part of EU agencies such as EASA. Mumford responds on behalf of BACA's UK and European membership with a call for clarity on how the UK's aviation industry is likely to function post-Brexit.

“As an industry, aviation has continually sought to remove barriers that prevent our ability to trade, whether they be in the form of Freedoms of the Air, or in terms of regulatory alignment across regions, such as that envisaged by the creation of EASA,” he says.

“Europe has worked for many decades to build a common approach to aviation and a market that seeks to maximise close cooperation and the freedom to fly over all European airspace. Ideally that should be preserved. With just over a year to go until the UK exits the EU it is imperative that our industry has as close to a global set of regulations as is possible, and so continued membership of EASA would help with that goal.

“The air charter industry generates employ-ment and investment across the UK and Europe and allows millions of people and tonnes of vital cargo to move seamlessly by air throughout the region. It is vital that this is allowed to continue.”