IATA predicts drop in UK air passengers following leave vote
Britain’s decision to leave the EU will bring ‘considerable uncertainty’ to the airline industry, IATA has warned.
It estimates the number of UK air passengers could be 3-5% lower by 2020, driven by the expected downturn in economic activity and the fall in the sterling exchange rate.
IATA warned it could be two years or more before exit issues are fully resolved.
"Prolonged uncertainty will influence both the magnitude and persistence of the economic impacts," it said.
"As leaders in the UK and the EU work to establish a new framework for their relationship, one certainty to guide them is the need and desire of people on both sides of that relationship to travel and trade. Air transport plays a major role in making that possible."
According to IATA figures, there were 117 million air passenger journeys between the UK and the EU in 2015.
"Air links facilitate business, support jobs and build prosperity. It is critical that whatever form the new UK-EU relationship takes, it must continue to ensure the common interests of safe, secure, efficient and sustainable air connectivity," said Tony Tyler, IATA’s director general and CEO.
IATA said a big issue is with aviation regulation.
"The UK faces a trade-off between accessing the European Single Aviation Market and having the policy freedom to set its own regulations," it said.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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