Brexit red tape forces UK cargo airline to fly to US for routine servicing

A fledgling British cargo airline has said Brexit red tape has forced it to go as far as the US for routine servicing and repairs, at huge environmental and financial costs.

The chief executive of One Air, Chris Hope, said the last government failed to do any Brexit impact assessment for aviation and the sector was concerned that Labour would make a similar “mysterious” omission when it opens talks with the EU about a reset in the cross-Channel trading relationship.

The company has criticised post-Brexit rules that require British pilots to be formally re-examined for identical qualifications in the EU at a substantial cost, while engineers’ hard-earned licences are rendered practically worthless outside Britain.

Part of the problem is the lack of mutual recognition for those with professional qualifications between the EU and the UK, something that also causes problems for architects and accountants.

One Air’s problem is compounded by its position as the only company in the UK operating Boeing 747s.

Servicing and maintenance infrastructure for the aircraft is fast disappearing as passenger airlines have switched to Airbus since the pandemic. As part of the Brexit arrangement, EU-based aircraft engineering companies in the bloc could apply to be recognised in the UK before the end of 2022 but there were no takers for 747s.

It means One Air is forced to fight for slots in the one repair workshop in Germany recognised in the UK or go to the US for the work to be done.

“In the seven months of this calendar year so far, we’ve had two [services] that had to go to the US. The kind of incremental cost difference is approaching $500,000 for each of them,” Hope said, resulting in costs so far of $1m (£780,000).

“It is possible for [EU] organisations to get UK approval but … they would have to apply to the UK as if they were a new operator and it is duplicate regulations, which is very involved. The cost and time of doing that is quite prohibitive to potentially service a two- or three-aircraft fleet.”

Similar issues have occurred in the industrial chemical industry, with huge costs associated with compliance to two sets of regulations, both stemming from the same original EU legislation.

The UK has a bilateral deal with the US, something the aviation industry hopes could be a model for a reset in relations with the EU.

Aircraft have to be serviced every three months, which takes a week at a time, with a longer check, taking a month, every two years.

Routine repairs are also a problem as components can only be put in UK aircraft if they are UK-approved or covered by the UK’s deal with the US.

“If it is completed by a workshop in the EU and unless that company has been UK approved, it can’t be used and that has significant impact,” Hope said.

Pilots are another issue, with British qualifications “seriously degraded” by Brexit because they are no longer recognised by the EU.

Amy Leversidge, the general secretary of the British Airline Pilots’ Association, called on the new government to heed the association’s repeated calls for “mutual recognition of flight crew and engineer licences, medical certificates and training organisation approvals, which would benefit all airlines and remove barriers to UK licence holders securing employment”.

The foreign secretary, David Lammy, has said he will be seeking to fix this as part of a wider reset in EU relations that the Labour government is seeking.

The Cabinet Office was approached for comment.