Thread by @faisalislam

My #brexitforensics story: Government will tell EU it wishes to stay in the aviation safety agency EASA - which operates within at least indirect jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice
news.sky.com/story/govt-to-…

EASA #brexitforensics thread:
UK will “offer” to remain within EASA, Government calculates that 40% of its technical expertise comes from UK Civil Aviation Authority
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Source: “It is part of the second phase negotiating process, but it would be bizarre if we couldn’t be part of it. Plenty of countries outside of EU are in EASA”
Ref to Norway, Iceland, Switzerland etc
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Article 66 of EASA regulations provide legal route for third party participation, but Norway and Switzerland have a Joint Committee that maintains European Court of Justice jurisdiction, albeit indirectly
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Does this break the PM’s red line on ECJ jurisdiction? Depends how you define direct - if it is defined like this then it does open up a model of “quasi-direct” jurisdiction that could stretch in an extreme to EEA
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The US Federal Aviation Authority has been pressing the UK to settle the EASA question “within weeks” at might yet require reinspection of all UK aviation safety/maintenance, as have airlines
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Smaller airports are concerned that they are already seeing a reallocation of investment in routes away from UK, eg London City new chief Robert Sinclair said: “consequences on No Deal v v significant”
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Sky News also understands that Government and industry have prepared a backstop contingency involving a late exchange of letters on Brexit eve to enable legal flight should Brexit talks fail, and UK falls out of EU arrangements
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Industry & EU does not believe as some MPs have argued that UK can simply fall back on to decades old bilateral flying deals signed by UK pre-EEC: Eg City Airport: “some very old bilateral arrangements in insufficient to provide for the level of demand, capacity we see now”
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There is no WTO fall back for aviation either, and there are also question marks about the validity of insurance contracts for leased aircraft - that might be what the exchange of letters helps mitigate
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Ultimately aviation is an area where mutual interest in getting a deal is clear, but it still needs to be done, and time is running out. European side points out “1/2 flights departing UK go to EU, 1/10 from EU go to UK”
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Lastly - at a Commission presentation as part of the EU27 future trade preps, EU suggested that UK red lines mean that it can not participate in EASA - reported by FT @alexebarker here: ft.com/content/e76746…

And if you joined the thread late or in the middle - here is the full story again - full Video including me timing my piece to camera to various planes taking off, coming up
#brexitforensics
news.sky.com/story/govt-to-…

#brexitforensics Aviation
UK “offers” to stay part of EU aviation body under indirect ECJ jurisdiction, prepares Brexit Eve exchange of letters with airlines if negotiations fail. My Video Report