"easyJet is lobbying the UK government and the EU to ensure the continuation of a fully liberal and deregulated aviation market within the UK and Europe. This would mean that easyJet and all European airlines can continue to operate as they do today and this objective has been supported by European airlines, with Airlines For Europe, Europe’s main airline association.
"As part of easyJet’s contingency planning before the referendum we had informal discussions with a number of European aviation regulators about the establishment of an AOC (air operator certificate) in a European country to enable easyJet to fly across Europe as we do today.
"easyJet has now started a formal process to acquire an AOC.
"Until the outcome of the UK/EU negotiations are clearer easyJet does not need to make any other structural or operational changes.
"We have no plans to move from Luton where we have been based for 20 years."
Notes to editors:
An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a national aviation authority to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial purposes. easyJet currently has two AOC’s, one in the UK and one in Switzerland. We also note that many airlines, such as IAG, Lufthansa Group, Norwegian, Air France KLM and Tui have several AOCs.
An AOC requires the operator to have some personnel, assets and systems in place to ensure the safety of its employees and the general public. The certificate will list the aircraft types and registrations to be used, for what purpose and in what area - specific airports or geographic region.
