IATA Global Media Day Coverage
BREXIT spells trouble for Asia-Pacific carriers
December 1st 2018
From an Asia-Pacific perspective, the current chaos in Europe over BREXIT – the UK’s exit from the European Union (EU) – may appear to be a distant problem with little relevance. Read More » Not so, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) this month.
Whatever shape Britain’s forecast departure from the European Union in next March, it will have a negative impact on the passenger and freight businesses of Asia-Pacific airlines.
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IATA’s regional vice president Europe, Rafael Schvartzman, said at the association’s Global Media Day that passengers and freight that can smoothly fly from Asia-Pacific to Continental Europe or Britain and proceed to around the region today will face new barriers once the Brexit process is executed.
“Now, there might be longer lines at security checks and immigration lines which will have a big impact on operations that already are congested. The disruption will be much wider than we are tempted to think of as being only intra EU. It is much wider than that,” he said.
Asian carriers transporting freight into London that is set to be forwarded to Continental Europe also will have to conform to new regulations and checks post Brexit. “The competitiveness of air freight is heavily reliant on the speed and predictability at which goods are moved across borders,” said Schvartzman.
He added efficient border processes are not only a concern for passengers and cargo, but also for the aircraft manufacturing production lines. “The Airbus A350, for instance, has about four million parts, produced by 1,500 companies from 30 countries that include many in the Asia-Pacific,” he said.
“Trade barriers would therefore pose a serious threat to production lines. Given the number of aircraft on order by Asian airlines from both Airbus and Boeing, any such delays in delivery of parts could have a knock-on effect in the time of aircraft deliveries to customers.”
