Speculation continues over Brexit impact

The United Kingdom’s decision
to exit from the European
Union could potentially have a
negative impact on the aviation
industry, including airline
general sales agents (GSA –
although the consequences of
that impact are still relatively
unknown.
A local airline GSA manager
told FTW he could sympathise
with global projections that
there would be an impact in
markets such as Europe and
the United States but added
that he expected the impact on
southern African GSAs to be
minimal.
“We have GSA deals with
smaller, African airlines that
shouldn’t really be affected but
of course, only time will tell,”
he commented.
General manager for
Europe of European-based
GSA, Airbridge International
Agencies (AIA), Mark Andrew,
believes that there will be an
effect “for sure”, adding that
until there is clarity on trade
deals, it is too early to say what
the impact will be.
He suggested that GSAs
look for niche markets into
which to expand to minimise
their potential Brexit fallout.
The International Air
Transport Association (Iata)
pointed out in a post-Brexit
report that while exchange rate
movements would affect the
relative price of imports and
exports, the near-term impact
on the UK airfreight market
was less certain.
But the association does
point out that over the longerterm
there will be an impact
on international trade when
the UK does formally exit
the EU and this, in turn,
will affect airfreight. “For
example, the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD)
estimates that UK trade
volumes could fall by 10-20%
over the long run (to 2030),”
said an Iata spokesperson.