Britain plans to stick to EU safety rules on aviation

Britain said it would stick to European Union technical rules and standards in aviation safety if the country leaves the bloc without a deal in March 2019, according to a series of technical notices published on Monday.

The UK government said in a paper on aviation safety that functions currently performed by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) would instead be performed by Britain's aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Agency (CAA).

Britain also said that it intended that any safety certificates issued by EASA which benefited UK entities would be valid for two years from the day Britain leaves the EU, and would need to be replaced by CAA versions before the end of that period.

While the EU has so far said that it would not recognize CAA issued certificates in a no-deal scenario, the UK said it was encouraging the EU to take "reciprocal action in recognizing UK-issued certificates".

On security, the UK government said in the event of a no-deal Brexit, there would be no reason for the UK's aviation security regime not to be recognized by the EU as equivalent, meaning no additional security restrictions.

However, if the EU decides not to recognize the UK aviation security system, then passengers from the UK transferring through EU airports and their luggage would have to be rescreened when changing flights in EU hub airports.