Travel Question: Will Brexit hold up my flight in April?

Have a question? Ask our expert Simon Calder

Flights to Hong Kong can include connections at EU hubs (iStock)

Q Friends of mine are getting married in Hong Kong in April 2019. Can I confidently book a flight there for the event, without worrying about a no-deal Brexit?

Joanna W

A Up to a point. There is no reason that I can see to fret about non-stop flights to Hong Kong from Heathrow on British Airways, Cathay Pacific or Virgin Atlantic, or from Manchester on Cathay. None would be jeopardised by a no-deal Brexit. Long-haul flights that cross EU territory are governed by the 1944 Chicago Convention. This allows aircraft from every signatory nation to fly “in transit non-stop” across any other country signed up to it. All EU countries are signatories, including those you could fly over along the way: the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Estonia.

Similarly, were you to fly via the Gulf on Emirates, Etihad or Qatar Airways, via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines, via Zurich on Swiss, or via Moscow on Aeroflot, there should be no problem: links between these hubs and the UK will continue as normal.

What about connections in EU hubs: Amsterdam on KLM, Copenhagen on SAS, Frankfurt or Munich on Lufthansa, Helsinki on Finnair or Paris on Air France? To eliminate Brexit-related risks, you could avoid them all just in case flights between the UK and European Union turn out to be grounded. But earlier this month the EU said that even in the event of a no deal, it would “propose measures to ensure that air carriers from the United Kingdom are allowed to … land in the European Union and fly back to the United Kingdom”. That might sound a little hesitant, being a “proposal” rather than a certainty, and it is contingent on the UK reciprocating, but I would be confident enough to book even in these tumultuous times.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder