Hunting the good news for readers on post-Brexit air travel

There is no more tangible evidence of the benefits of belonging to the European Union than the way flying to and from Britain has been transformed in the past quarter-century

Michael Weaver, who has a Union flag next to his Twitter handle, asks: “Well that’s all the doom and gloom, any positives?”

Mr Weaver was referring to the article I spent the weekend researching, on what the consequences of Brexit will be on aviation.

There is no more tangible evidence of the benefits of belonging to the European Union than the way flying to and from Britain has been transformed in the past quarter-century.

After energetic lobbying by the UK, “open skies” was introduced to Europe in the early 1990s. Suddenly any EU airline could fly between any two points. Not all of the early promise paid off; Lufthansa’s link between Birmingham and Newcastle did not last long.

But the UK, thanks to the no-frills revolution precipitated by easyJet and adopted by Ryanair, found itself propelled to the forefront of European aviation. Fares halved and opportunities multiplied, with airports such as Liverpool and Leeds/Bradford transformed from moribund to bustling.

If you like a wide range of affordable, safe flights, there is no better arrangement than the present deal. So finding positives is tricky: the long-term effect of Brexit is less choice and higher fares compared with a “remain” baseline.

But let me try.

For Brexiteers intent on turning away from Europe, and reducing the number of foreigners flying to the UK, diminishing aviation links will make a useful contribution to reducing the freedom to travel.

For environmentalists who feel, with some justification, that aviation is dangerously affordable, the downturn is in principle a positive – reducing carbon emissions and noise around airports.

Yet the evidence is that in a declining market, airlines are reluctant to deploy state-of-the-art, quiet and efficient aircraft; that sort of investment is reserved for expanding opportunities. So the environmental benefits may be marginal at best.

There is, however, one issue where the government has the opportunity to extract some value for aviation from leaving the EU: the appallingly drafted, badly interpreted and wholly iniquitous European air passengers’ rights rules. But on this aspect, the government says it has no intentions of changing a thing.

So, Mr Weaver, that is the best I can do.

Yours,

Simon Calder

Travel correspondent