Christopher Loxton on The impact of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement on aviation – Part 1

On 24 December 2020, the European Commission and the United Kingdom agreed the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (‘the TCA’). This sets out the basis for the future EU and UK relationship for trade, transport, and a number of other areas such as fishing and criminal law enforcement.  

In the article, Christopher Loxton provides a detailed evaluation of what the aviation section of the TCA, entitled ‘Heading Two: Aviation’, represents, including:

• the continuation of air transport services between the UK and the EU;
• the removal of direct access for UK air carriers to EU internal routes and vice-versa;
• limitations on ownership and control of airlines designated to operate UK-EU routes;
• a framework air safety agreement for mutual recognition of certain certificates, licences, and approvals; and
• the establishment of a Specialised Committee on Air Transport which has responsibility for (a) monitoring the liberalisation of ownership and control requirements for carriers; (b) monitoring the removal of barriers that distort fair competition and opportunities; (c) drafting and adopting further aviation safety uniformity.