This is an abrupt observation made by Charlie Cornish, Managing Director of MAGwhich owns Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports. The man is in fact the boss of the UK's largest airport group. The Guardian newspaper reports that, at the Airlines 2022 conference in London, Charlie Cornish declared thatthere was "no doubt" that Brexit had damaged the UK economyadding that it had "massively exacerbated" the shortage of workers.
"The Brexit has damaged the UK economy, 99% of the most qualified economists would tell you that. Just look at the current growth rate, and it's significant," he described. Manchester Airport had a dreadful summer in 2022, with catastrophic management of passenger flows...
The Director of the MAG Group expressed a rather pessimistic view. " If this continues, the UK's ability to compete will be eroded each year.. The UK government needs to look at how to re-establish a sensible economic growth plan, with aviation at the heart of that plan."
Charlie Cornish certainly recognises that the Covid factor has played a definite role in the shortage of airport staff. But the UK also faces a unique factor: the absence of EU Europeans from the UK labour market following the Brexit. " This is affecting the UK aerospace industry's ability to recruit labour on a large scale." he explained. "A problem that did not exist before Brexit". And he called for a strengthening of the aviation sector, which depends essentially on a GDP that is currently showing signs of weakness.
No "Brexit miracle" in aviation
Charlotte Vere, the UK Secretary of State for Aviation and Maritime, replied. Asked at the conference to name one benefit of the Brexit for aviation, the Secretary of State gave the floor. It merely suggested that the UK would be able to modernise its airspace thanks to the end of the constraints previously imposed by Brussels..
"Our capacity to modernise airspace is different from that of the EU. From our point of view, I think we will be able to develop our aviation sector in this way", she explained.
However, the Secretary of State failed to convince Willie Walsh, Director General of IATA and former boss of IAG, owner of British Airways. He declared thatthere were clear indicators that British aviation was recovering more slowly than European aviation. " Brexit has damaged the UK, from everything I've seen," he said. "I haven't heard any politician talking about any benefit, and I don't see any benefit. no benefits from Brexit for aviation" ...
