Britannia Rules the Skies

How the EU is in for a Bumpy Landing After Brexit

skies

EU Trumpets 1 Billion Air Passengers, But UK Is 25% Of This

In December the EU released its latest figures for air travel. The UK is totally dominant.

BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY

UK’S DOMINANCE IN THE AIR

More air passengers than any other country
The most passengers travelling outside the EU
The most passengers travelling inside the EU
The busiest airport in the EU

WHY ARE WE SHOWING THIS?

FIRSTLY, Brexit Facts4EU.Org presents this information as part of our campaign to show the British people that – despite what members of the Establishment wish us to think – the United Kingdom is a significant world power.

THE SECOND REASON is to show readers how the EU continues to trumpet its ‘achievements’, whilst including the UK in its figures. Technically this is of course correct, as the UK continues to be a member of the EU. Nevertheless, the EU’s headlines will look much less impressive in just 84 days’ time.

THE THIRD REASON is to demonstrate to the likes of Herr Juncker that it is not acceptable to say that facts are not made available to the British public.

“What I really regret in the context of Brexit is that there was no real Brexit campaign in terms of actual information in the United Kingdom.”
- Jean-Claude Juncker, unelected EU Commission President, 01 Oct 2018, Freiburg

The problem is that he doesn’t like the facts, and neither does a large part of the British media.

PRIDE GOES BEFORE A FALL

If we were the EU Commission, we would have started ‘managing’ our pronouncements a year ago. Here’s the EU’s headline from four weeks ago.

passenger_headline

Imagine the headline in a year’s time:-

“Record drop of ¼ billion in number of air passengers carried”

UK FLYING HIGH

In its latest report on air travel, the EU’s statistics agency has been forced to concede figures showing that the UK dominates almost every aspect of air travel in the EU.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org had in fact already analysed the figures two months earlier and we had published our own report. Here we update that article based on the official EU report. We are pleased to advise that as usual our assertions were correct and our conclusions stand.

Observations

Facts matter in our opinion.

Sadly they are seldom promoted on the BBC or on other broadcast outlets when they involve information which runs counter to the narrative that the UK is too small to succeed as an independent nation.

Some Remainer MPs will say that figures on aviation are irrelevant. Really? Imagine if the EU’s figures had shown that the UK was insignificant to the EU in terms of air travel? Imagine if the UK’s figures had shown a drop, rather than a year-on-year increase of 6%?

We all know the answer. The BBC would have been all over this story like a rash.

RELEVANCE TO BREXIT

The UK is a great country. It’s high time we had a Government that acted like it believed that.

The story of the last two and a half years has been of a defeatist Prime Minister leading a defeatist Government advised by defeatist civil servants.

It’s time to prepare properly for a true, clean WTO Brexit on 29 March

Something to say about this? Scroll down for reader comments

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Reader Comments 5

1. Gary / York , Saturday, January 05, 2019, 07:36:

Your charts really show up the truth. Why does the UK let the EU play such an upper hand in this (too)? That's beyond me. Air passengers will find ways and routes that get them where they want to go, and airlines will follow the money. Wouldn't it be lovely to be able to avoid Brussels airport completely? It's currently one of the interchange point for the budget airlines. It’s so telling though in a way: most people 'visiting' Brussels are basically going there against their will, as a necessary evil to get somewhere else.

2. Concerned Expat somewhere outside the eu , Saturday, January 05, 2019, 08:35:

I could not agree more!
"The UK is a great country. It’s high time we had a Government that acted like it believed that"
Sadly we have not had that since before joing the EEC, with the possible exception of Margaret Thatcher, and even her reign was hampered by poor advisors and others waiting in the wings to stab her politically.
The people are far better than the donkeys leading them.

3. Sydney Ashurst , Saturday, January 05, 2019, 12:19:

The quoted passenger figures show the dominance of our airlines within Europe.
With 84 days to go the Commission does not have follow on (parallel) Air Service Agreements with the UK.
The Commission is proposing a Regulation to ensure temporarily, for 12 months, the provision of certain air services between the United Kingdom and the EU27 Member States.
The UK as an ICAO Council Member cannot legally accept (as a third Country) an EU regulation. We can only accept an ICAO bilateral ASA granting the five Freedoms of the Air under the Chicago Convention, which will be permanent.
'The contracting States recognize that every State has complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above its territory', while Article 6 on scheduled air services states that, 'No scheduled international air service may be operated over or into the territory of a contracting State, except with the special permission or other authorization of that State, and in accordance with the terms of such permission or authorization'.
Under the International Air Services Transit Agreement the first freedom is the right to fly over a foreign country without landing. Member states of the International Air Services Transit Agreement grant this freedom (as well as the second freedom) to other member states, subject to the transiting aircraft
using designated air routes. The operative words are 'Member States' and to qualify each Country must have an ICAO ASA one with the other.
Commissioner for Transport Bulc will need before 29th March 2019 to have negotiated an Air Service Agreement with the UK based on the International Civil Aviation Organization five freedoms of the Air, if the 27 member states wish to continue flying into and through the United Kingdoms Airspace, and directly accessing the North Atlantic Track Structure.
The United States being cognizant of the situation have ratified a new bilateral ICAO ASA 'open skies' agreement with the UK.

4. Catherine McBride , Sunday, January 06, 2019, 00:20:

While I take your point about the UK being a great country, I think you are missing the point of the figures. What they really show is how dependant EU airlines are on UK passengers.
If they are Eurostat figures, I think they show the departure airport of each journey. So 1/3 of all Intra-EU flights are departing from a UK airport but that does not mean the passengers are on UK airlines. In fact there are no UK airlines anymore, even British Airways is Spanish. So if the EU did not agree an air transport deal, how long before Cyprus Airline goes bust? Or Olympic Airways? Or Malta air or even Latvian air? They all have a disproportionate amount of UK passengers either as holiday destinations or because of EU migrants visiting their relatives.
Even the big companies that make their money on long haul flights rely on British based passengers. I can fly to Australia with Austrian Air but have to fly via Vienna, or to South Africa on KLM but have to fly from UK to skipol first. Etc. Any travel website clearly shows how the EU airlines are trying to capture the UK long haul passengers.
So it would be a very stupid political move on the EU part to bankrupt its member states airlines.
Reply: Thanks Catherine. You are of course correct. We try to limit the number of points we make per article to make them more readable, and frequently return to the same research to approach it from a different angle. You've saved us the job in this case, so thank you!

5. Sydney Ashurst , Thursday, January 10, 2019, 15:21:

Aviation is not subject to WTO for its operation, nor to EU directives outside of its member States. In the great outside World every Country operates under the Chicago Convention 'Five Freedoms' and the auspices of the rules set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation ( a UN body).
The Financial Times (and the Daily Mail) have got their facts wrong once again. They are just trying to stir the Brexit pot once more.
They have at last caught up with the USA/UK ASA. A new US-UK open skies deal means BA will be able to fly its profitable New York routes after Brexit.
We get the FT quoting a nameless senior EU official.
What the FT are not aware of is that EU airlines do not have traffic rights after 30th March with the UK. Commissioner for Transport Bluc needs to sort that out first. See 3 above.
The question of Ownership and Control (O & C) of IAG, quoted on both London and Madrid Exchanges, is being questioned in the European Parliament. What cannot be disputed is that although British Airways is part of a group (IAG) it is registered in England, as British Airways PLC with its Head Office at Waterside, Harmondsworth, United Kingdom. Its aircraft are on the British Register, administered by the UK Civil Aviation Authority, part of the Department for Transport.
British Airways as a UK registered airline does not have to have a majority European ownership for its operations when we leave the EU. It is a point to point operation between its UK bases and European destinations. It does not operate 7th freedom flights, as does RyanAir.
The other airline in IAG is AerLingus and they do not have ongoing traffic rights either. Willie Walsh the CEO of IAG has rightly assumed that the EU member states Airlines will want to continue flying into an through UK airspace forcing them to sign a NEW ASA.

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