Europe's largest budget airline Ryanair said that it may drop its UK domestic flight due to the change of policy because of Brexit.
Any EU airline can fly between two airports in Europe, based on European Union rules - including domestic flights in a foreign country, but since UK is leaving the EU, it is unknown whether the freedom will resume. Ryanair currently links Gatwick with Belfast International, Stansted with Edinburgh and Glasgow, and City of Derry with Stansted, Glasgow and Liverpool.
Together with easyJet, the Irish airline has a large portfolios of domestic flights in countries such as Poland, Italy and Spain. According to Independent, Ryanair may be excluded from UK domestic routes since it is operating from Ireland.
Ryanair Chief Financial Officer Neil Sorahan said that with 1,800 routes run by the airline - three of which are domestic UK, the company has to keep the policy under review as the country move towards exit from the EU.
"We may decide not to fly those routes any more or we may apply for a UK AOC [Air Operator Certificate]. We'll have a better view in 18-24 months where the UK is going," he said.
Sorahan also said that domestic routes will be reviewed after Brexit negotiation. Ryanair competes directly with easyJet - between Stansted and Edinburgh, operating four flights a day. In fare comparison, both airlines have a very similar ticket fare when booking a week ahead to London, and returning on the last departure. Ryanair is priced at £74 return while easyJet is at £68.
As for Belfast-Stansted route, the correnspoding fare is £95 as easyJet has no competition. The only domestic routes currently operated from City of Derry airport, in the west of Northern Ireland, are on Ryanair.
Ryanair previously claimed that the Brexit vote both a "surprise" and a "disappointment." The company has openly campaigned for Britain to stay part of the EU, prior to the result announced last June 2016.
