Minister Toledo

SPAIN has said it will have a backup aviation deal with the UK in case of widespread disruption to air travel post-Brexit.

Deputy Minister for European Affairs Jorge Toledo said if an EU-UK aviation deal does not come through, Spain will have its own to ensure British tourists keep coming.

“If there isn’t an agreement, then we will have a plan B ready,” said Toledo, 52.

“It would be necessary to work on a European solution but also on a national-based solution.”

Airlines tend to make their flight plans one year in advance, so Spain still has about four months to see if a back-up plan will be necessary, with the UK planning to leave in March 2019, Toledo said in an interview in Madrid.
As Brexit talks stall, Spain wants to protect its tourism industry, which drew 18 million Britons last year.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary warned in August that airlines would be ‘screaming blue murder’ next year if a wide-ranging deal on aviation isn’t reached.

Spain fully supports the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, but a collapse of the talks would threaten tourism and commercial links and the role played by Spanish firms including Banco Santander SA and Iberdrola SA in the UK economy.

 

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