Even protectionist markets like Canada give Chinese airlines far more traffic rights than Canadians can use. If the United Kingdom were to conclude a number of bilateral agreements and take the opportunity to assert nationalism (a supposed engine of Brexit), the United Kingdom could, for example, severely restrict access to the Netherlands and its airline KLM. 225.Mr Pearce stressed the increased importance of the EU-US open skies agreement to the UK economy: “We have, for example, many joint ventures on the North Atlantic that rotate over London, so these open skies agreements are a prerequisite for these structures. 319 The government, he argued, had to “protect the wider open sky [and] … Agreement with third countries,” and recommended “early discussions with the United States.” 320 236.A bilateral air services agreement, which is expected to maintain the level of market access currently enjoyed by UK airlines, should allow British airlines to provide duties on non-stop flights between EU Member States and domestic flights within EU Member States. Given the size of its aviation sector, the UK should have leverage in the negotiations, but we note that there is no precedent for the inclusion of a comprehensive bilateral air services agreement within an EU Member State. 234.The Uk is the world leader in air services. This position has been consolidated in recent years by the creation of the AEEC and the internal aviation market. It is within this framework that the world`s most liberal air trade has developed, benefiting both European consumers and businesses. The UK`s leadership position and common interests with the EU in this area provide the government with leverage to negotiate a good deal on British air services after Brexit.
NOTE that the coherence between EU law and the provisions of bilateral air services agreements between the Member States of the European Union and the Government of the People`s Republic of China will provide a solid legal basis for air services between the European Union and the People`s Republic of China and will ensure the continuity of these services , 235. First, there is an urgent need for the Government to clarify whether it intends to establish the UK`s future trade with the EU on the basis of membership of the ECAA or on the basis of a separate and comprehensive bilateral agreement on air services. In the first case, it would be important for the UK to retain the right to vote in EU agencies such as EESA and sesar (which is not the case for current non-EU ECAA members) and to have access to existing open skiing agreements. Britain has signed a pioneering agreement with China, which ministers say is the first in a series of open skies agreements to promote trade and tourism after Brexit. 226.In the absence of a new agreement, Dr Humphreys considered that the United Kingdom could use “Bermuda II”, the agreement between the United States and Great Britain, which preceded the Open Skies. But it is “such a restrictive agreement that I am almost certain that the United States and the United Kingdom will reach a new liberal agreement very quickly and fairly easily.” According to him, this would “probably be very close to the EU-US agreement.”321 China Eastern Air Holding will water down its stake in Travelsky Technology after agreeing to sell 4.97% of the Chinese aviation service provider to China Mobile Capital. Bilateral air services agreements between Member States and the People`s Republic of China do not affect the competition rules of contracting parties. 202.Air services are an important part of what the ONS defines as “transportation services,” i.e. services related to international trade in goods (e.g. B freight, freight and air freight) and international passenger transport (through passenger, road and rail services).277
