A growing number of countries with ski resorts are announcing open-skies deals with the UK to come in to force after Brexit day, 29th March, 2019.
The UK is due to leave the EU just before the end of the 2018-19 ski season and the Easter school holidays with a number of consequences for outbound travel as Britain seeks to limit freedom of movement from the UK to 27 European nations.
These consequences to travel are either regarded as a minor inconvenience you will not notice or potentially a major catastrophe depending on your point of view on Brexit.
A number of ski destination nations from the UK have now agreed ‘Open Skies style’ air transport agreements with the UK that will kick in on Brexit Day when the UK will need separate deals having broken away from its previous relationships through the EU.
These agreements have so far been reached with Switzerland (taking in the major ski hub airport of Geneva), also used for access to many French resorts in the Alps; Canada and the USA. It’s unclear if that includes access from the UK to Switzerland, as flights would need to travel over EU territory to get there.
Other countries that have ski resorts and have reached flight deals so far include Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Montenegro, Morocco.
In terms of flights directly between the UK and the EU’s 27 remaining member nations, which represent more than 80% of ski destinations for Brits, various airline trade organisations and some airlines like Ryanair are warning that a hard exit of the EU by the UK could lead to flights being grounded after 29th March.
However others, including easyJet, who have taking Brexit mitigation measures including moving the registrations of over a hundred pilots to the EU from the UK, say it is “unthinkable” that flights could be grounded after 29th March.
