London City Airport chief Robert Sinclair “increasingly confident” Brexit deal will be done
London City Airport chief executive Robert Sinclair is “increasingly confident” a deal with the EU will be done by 2019, as the airport launched a joint campaign with the Department for International Trade (DIT) to encourage British businesses to sell overseas.
Sinclair told City A.M. that while his predecessor, Declan Collier, was “right to raise concerns early on”, he was confident a deal would be reached by March 2019, when the UK officially leaves the EU.
“I share some of Declan’s concerns but I think the industry and governments on both side of the Channel are prioritising aviation and a seamless aviation market,” he said.
However, he added: “March 2019 is the goal but is is still not 100 per cent clear …. the sooner there is certainty the better.”
Collier had said that the growth in passengers seen across London’s airports in particular was down to the EU’s open skies policy. “Without open skies the UK would not have such a dynamic mix of flag carriers and low-cost carriers. Nor would we have the passenger protections we enjoy today such as compensation for flight delays, or access to healthcare across the EU,” he said.
Read more: London is a global city – so why vote for a Brexit?
Sinclair’s comments are the latest by a number of aviation figures who appear optimistic that the EU and UK would strike a deal.
Last month, Easyjet’s CEO Johan Lundgren told City A.M. that Brexit would not force UK shareholders to sell their stakes to their EU counterparts after the airline amended its articles of association to allow it to comply with foreign ownership rules if necessary.
Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair’s chief marketing officer, also told this newspaper the airline would not be grounding flights in April 2019 – as threatened by CEO Michael O’Leary – but warned there was a risk this could happen if negotiations between the UK and the EU fell apart.
The London airport and DIT’s joint advertising campaign kicked off by showcasing five businesses that have received support to grow their exports.
One business, Stitch and Story, which counts John Lewis, Liberty of London and Fenwick as customers, said it had received a £2,000 grant from DIT for an exhibition in New York that had won it more orders and helped drive its 200 per cent growth.
The campaign launch comes as the trade minister, Baroness Fairhead, made a final call for businesses to input into the government’s new export strategy, which will be revealed in the coming months.
Fairhead said: “I am determined to help British businesses seize global export opportunities across the world.
“The Department for International Trade is helping thousands of new companies to export every year through our online export support tools at great.gov.uk. This campaign provides a fantastic opportunity to showcase our export heroes and inspire many more businesses to sell their products overseas.”
Today research by HSBC found that the value of British exports will expand at the fastest pace since 2011 during the course of this year.
UK goods and services exports will increase by 10 per cent in 2018 to hit $900bn in US dollar terms (£639bn), the bank said.
British exporters have been boosted by a weaker pound at the same time that the economies of key trading partners have accelerated – even as the UK economy has failed to keep pace.
Read more: British exports to grow at “fastest pace since 2011” say HSBC forecasts