From 1 January 2021, UK and EU operators are treated as third country operators in each other’s airspace. UK and EU carriers traffic rights are now defined by reference to the Agreement and those rights are fundamentally different to the single European airspace which the UK previously benefitted from. Under the Agreement, UK and EU air carriers will continue to enjoy flyover rights and operating rights on routes between the UK and the EU (third and fourth freedom rights).
Neither UK nor EU carriers will be able to operate intra-EU or intra-UK cabotage routes respectively.
UK and EU carriers are not automatically entitled to operate routes which have an intermediary stop in the EU or UK respectively, where passengers/cargo are loaded/offloaded before continuing to a third-country destination (fifth freedom rights). However, the Agreement does permit the UK and individual EU Member States to negotiate bilateral agreements for fifth-freedom all-cargo flights (discussed further below).
EU operators flying from the EU to the UK
The new trade agreement which came into effect on 31 Dec 2020, requires a Foreign Carrier Permit for all non-UK operators intending to operate commercial flights to, from or within the United Kingdom.
The UK Foreign Carrier Permits will not be required for:
- Private flights
- Overflying the United Kingdom
- State flights with Head of States, Ministers, Government officials on board
- Military flights operated by military aircraft
- Positioning, ferry or delivery flights
- Maintenance flights
- Test Flights
UK Operators flying from the UK to the EU
UK commercial operators will be treated as all other non-European operators when conducting flights to/from or within Europe. If a UK operator has not reached an agreement with the Civil Aviation Authority of each EU state, they will have to apply for a commercial permit for every trip.
The following categories of the UK operators are exempted:
- Private flights
- Overflying the EU
- State flights with Head of States, Ministers, Government officials on board
- Military flights operated by military aircrafts
- Positioning, ferry or delivery flights
- Maintenance flights
For further details and planning your flights between the United Kingdom and European Union, please contact Jetex.
Jetex France:
E-mail: france@jetex.com
