FILE PHOTO: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) logo is seen at the International Tourism Trade Fair ITB in Berlin, Germany, March 7, 2018. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch/File Photo DUBAI (Reuters) - Measures to allow flights to continue between the European Union and Britain in the event of a disorderly Brexit are unlikely to be enough to avoid some disruptions and cancellations, the head of the world’s leading air transport group warned on Thursday. Britain is set to leave the EU on March 29, but with less than three months to go UK Prime Minister Theresa May has failed to gain support at home for an exit agreement, increasing the prospects of a “no-deal” break in relations. “We are a bit worried because the first guidelines have been issued and, I think, represent a constraint on traffic,” said International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Director General and Chief Executive Alexandre de Juniac. He said the measures were based on traffic between the EU and Britain in 2018, and so did not account for planned increases in flights this year. That would mean, in the event of “no-deal,” flights would have to start being adjusted or even cancelled once traffic reached the 2018 ceiling on which the measures were based, he said. “I hope we will be able to convince UK and European authorities to be more flexible,” he told reporters in Dubai. De Juniac also said he did not believe flights would be immediately grounded if the EU and Britain failed to reach a deal before March 29. Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Mark Potter
Plans to ensure continued flights between Britain and the EU if a no-deal Brexit occurs will probably not be sufficient to prevent cancellations and disruptions. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said current guidelines were based on last year’s traffic between the two and had not considered planned flight increases in 2019. This meant, as things stand, if a Brexit agreement is not agreed then adjustments to flights would be required once 2018’s traffic ceiling had been hit. The IATA encouraged the UK and EU to be more flexible with regard to each's planning.