At present the UKis a member of the European Common Aviation Area (ECAA), this includes all theEU states, Norway, Iceland and the non-EU Balkan states. Any airlinepredominantly owned by people or companies based inside member state is free tooperate anywhere within the ECAA, without any restriction as to frequency orcapacity At present, both Easyjet and British Airways are UK-owned airlinesthis means they can both enjoy the full freedoms provided by the ECAA. If/whenthe UK leaves the EU, if no special arrangements are put in place the UK’smembership of the ECAA would break down and both airlines would lose allautomatic rights to operate to, from and within the ECAA. Furthermore, theirrights would also lapse on routes that are now governed by agreements betweenthe EU and the USA (such as the EU-US “Open Skies” agreement). These rights arereciprocal. American and other ECAA carriers such as Ryanair would lose theirautomatic rights to fly to the UK. This would be a massive impact on the UK aviation industry as it wouldbe more costly for UK based carriers to travel across Europe and directlyaffecting fare prices for consumers and perhaps cause a decline in air travelfor the UK across maintain Europe.
The Aviation Industry has always had an impact on theenvironment. Internationally the industry affects the world by adding toclimate change , this is because aviation jet fuel is made of kerosene which isdeveloped using fossil fuels and with thousands of aircraft flying every daythe effects only get worse. Locally the industry is still causing problems byreducing the quality of air but also in terms of noise pollution. Aircraft arevery loud and around airports like LHR (London Heathrow) which is the largestairport in the UK noise pollution can be a huge problem for local communities.
The Aviation Industry has different ways of trying to combat these impacts. The CAA follows government policy andguidance on carbon emissions and the quality of air when it decides to makechange about airspace. It plays a vital role when it comesto advising the government on the reducing the aviation industry’s carbonemissions and developing international initiatives. An example wouldbe emissions trading which is designed to directly combatclimate change. Newer Aircraft arebeing designed to produce less noise , modern aircraft are a lot quieter thanthey were a few decades ago for example the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 aresignificantly quieter than the aircraft they were meant to be replacing. At LHRlimiting and restricting flights especially atnight promotes airlines to use the best aircraft they have for the specific route; the airport also provides financialincentives which also encourage airlines to use their quietest aircraft throughvariable landing charges.
Together these lead to more of thequietest planes being used at Heathrow. Although there has been roughly double the amount of aircraft numbers since the 1970s, LHRhave a decrease in the numbers of people being affected by Heathrow’s noise.
