What does “Brexit” mean for UK travellers?

I am sure you have read the news, and it certainly marks the beginning of a new chapter for the United Kingdom and the European Union. There has been a lot of talk on social media about how this will affect UK travellers. To be honest, it is too early to predict just how much will change; however ABTA, the association of British Travel Agents, has published a great FAQ guide on their website. I’ve expanded on a couple of points below for you.

It’s worth remembering that at this time there is no change to any travel arrangements for UK citizens, or in-fact anyone visiting the UK or EU. It will take a minimum of two years for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, but many speculate it might actually take a little longer, if it all goes ahead that is. Of course the international markets are currently in a period of volatility and the pound is looking quite weak. This results in not-so-good currency exchange rates  – but that’s the only concern you should have if you are travelling right now or in the near future.

The Prime Minister has stated that there will be no initial change in the way people travel. Travellers are as free to move between the UK and the EU as they were yesterday, European Health Insurance cards remain valid and regulations such as Air Passenger Rights remain in place.

Taken from the “Latest Travel Alerts” page on the ABTA website.

In terms of aviation, airlines such as easyJet operate under “Openskies” agreements; which of course was formed as a result of the EU’s common aviation market. In short, new deals would have to be negotiated to ensure that flight prices do not increase by a considerable amount and that airlines can freely travel to and from destinations in the Eurozone. The fact that the low-cost airline started to study it’s operations and look into an EU business shows the carrier were concerned about the result, but they are prepared to make the necessary changes to remain competitive.

Air Passenger Rights is another interesting topic, as all airlines operating in the UK currently conform to the EU’s directive regarding this. Again, new regulations would have to be implemented by the UK government, but I would certainly hope that a very similar scheme would be put in place – which works for everyone.

At 19:45 BST, I had a little look at the airline stock markets and things didn’t look too good after the Brexit announcement. easyJet (EZJ) was down by 17.6%, whilst IAG (IAG) – the parent company of British Airways was down by 22.54%. US carriers also saw a decline in their share prices today. American (AAL) was down 10.39%, United (UAL) 8.48%, and Delta (DAL) 7.67%. A potential decline was predicted in advance, but only time will tell on how much the carriers will suffer in terms of passenger volume and market-share on transatlantic and other major routes.

The next few days, weeks, months and certainly years are going to be pretty interesting – but it’s important to remember that this is only the start of a very long process and that things will eventually settle over time. What will travel between the UK, USA and other markets look like when Brexit occurs? I’m not going to speculate – let’s just wait and see.

For now, that’s all I’m going to say on the matter. It was certainly something I didn’t see coming, but now it has – everyone must come together and work things out – for Britain and Europe.