Airlines facing higher repair costs due to post-Brexit regulations

Airlines facing higher repair costs due to post-Brexit regulations
Credit: Malcolm Park/Alamy Stock Photo

London (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – UK airlines are being pushed to fly planes to the United States for gradual and more expensive repairs instead of Europe because of Brexit regulations.

Why Are UK Airlines Opting for US Repairs Post-Brexit?

The UK and EU, despite having essentially identical safety regulations, have two separate licensing systems for maintenance installations. Following a two-year post-Brexit elegance period which culminated in 2023, any UK-registered aircraft cannot be lawfully repaired at EU-licensed facilities.

Now British businesses have been flying their planes thousands of miles across the Atlantic to the US, which has a mutual recognition arrangement for aviation engineering with the UK.

How Have Brexit Regulations Affected UK Airlines’ Maintenance Costs?

Cargo airline One Air, which functions out of the East Midlands importing electronic goods, has two Boeing 747s, which require one basic check every three months and a thorough check every two years. One Air expressed a straightforward maintenance check in Germany would take a week and cost approximately £164,000. In the US, it takes a fortnight and commands £203,000. Detailed supervision takes 27 days turnaround for £1.25 million at a German structure. In the US, it brings 41 days for £1.7 million.

What Are the Financial Implications of Brexit for UK Airlines?

Chris Hope, One Air’s chief operating officer, stated: “It creates a bigger running cost that effectively gets passed through to the consumer as an extra cost burden that we see as potentially unnecessary.” He contended that costs were driven up because parts for the planes also had to be UK-endorsed, and were sourced from the US as a result.

Why Are EU Maintenance Facilities Unlikely to Obtain UK Licenses?

EU facilities can apply for individual UK licences but are improbable to do so given the additional cost and red tape. The UK Government desires a deal with Brussels on the mutual recognition of professional credentials as part of its push for closer relations with Europe, but EU officials have rushed cold water on those hopes.

Why Did the EU Reject Previous Calls for Mutual Recognition?

They stated they had already rejected injunctions for a similar agreement from the Tory government during the 2020 Brexit trade negotiations because it “at the time, it was not believed in the EU’s interest”. A mutual recognition arrangement would mean EU engineers could service British aircraft, and vice versa, as they did when all were under one licensing system before the UK left the EU and its European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

An EU official cautioned Britain would have to become a rule-taker if it desired to rejoin EASA as an associate member. “This is a deliberate choice of the UK, and does not trigger the need for the EU to engage in a discussion of ‘recognition’ of UK certificates,” one official told The Telegraph.

What Are the Broader Impacts of Brexit on UK-EU Business Relations?

A spokesman for the Airlines UK trade body expressed it had felt the consequences of a Brexit trade deal which Sir Keir Starmer has defined as “botched”. “It would be in the interests of all parties across the UK and EU to remove this burden and reintroduce mutual recognition of pilot and engineer licences,” he stated.

Naomi Smith, the chief executive of Best for Britain, which campaigns for more consolidated EU-UK ties, stated: “This is just one instance from one industry of how divergence from our largest market and most immediate neighbours is increasing prices for businesses and inevitably consumers.”

Daniele Naddei

Daniele Naddei is a journalist at Parliament News covering European affairs, was born in Naples on April 8, 1991. He also serves as the Director of the CentroSud24 newspaper. During the period from 2010 to 2013, Naddei completed an internship at the esteemed local radio station Radio Club 91. Subsequently, he became the author of a weekly magazine published by the Italian Volleyball Federation of Campania (FIPAV Campania), which led to his registration in the professional order of Journalists of Campania in early 2014, listed under publicists. From 2013 to 2018, he worked as a freelance photojournalist and cameraman for external services for Rai and various local entities, including TeleCapri, CapriEvent, and TLA. Additionally, between 2014 and 2017, Naddei collaborated full-time with various newspapers in Campania, both in print and online. During this period, he also resumed his role as Editor-in-Chief at Radio Club 91.
Naddei is actively involved as a press officer for several companies and is responsible for editing cultural and social events in the city through his association with the Medea Fattoria Sociale. This experience continued until 2021. Throughout these years, he hosted or collaborated on football sports programs for various local broadcasters, including TLA, TvLuna, TeleCapri, Radio Stonata, Radio Amore, and Radio Antenna Uno.
From 2016 to 2018, Naddei was employed as an editor at newspapers of national interest within the Il24.it circuit, including Internazionale24, Salute24, and OggiScuola. Since 2019, Naddei has been one of the creators of the Rabona television program "Calcio è Passione," which has been broadcast on TeleCapri Sport since 2023.