British planes may not be able to take off if the UK leaves the EU with no deal, the aerospace industry has warned.
Paul Everitt, the chairman of the ADS Group, said airlines were facing the “chaotic” situation of not being able to fly immediately after 29 March 2019 as components made in Britain may not be certified as safe.
“In those circumstances [of no deal] our regulatory regime is effectively non-functioning,” he told the Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee on Tuesday.
Asked by Rachel Reeves, the Labour chair of the committee, if he could guarantee flights would be able to take off the day after a hard Brexit, Everitt said he “couldn’t be certain”.
ADS is the trade organisation representing the aerospace, defence, security and space industries.
Everitt told MPs: “I can’t tell you. That’s a worry. It’s even a bigger worry if you talk to the airlines.
“It’s chaotic because we don’t know what arrangements may or may not be put in place.
“We are assuming nobody really wants a chaotic situation. If we are not an EU member state then a whole bunch of stuff falls away.”
Philip Hammond said in October that a no deal Brexit could ground flights.
“One can plan for the most extreme scenario. It is theoretically conceivable that in a no deal scenario there will be no air traffic moving between the UK and EU on the 29th March, 2019. But I don’t think anybody seriously believes that that is where we will get to,” he told the Commons Treasury Committee.
Aston Martin has also warned it could have to stop production of its cars if a deal is not signed with the EU.