EasyJet is drawing up plans to potentially move its legal headquarters out of the UK and into Europe as the business fallout from the EU referendum continues.
The budget airline will lobby British and EU governments to retain the status quo in the aviation market, which allows operators to fly across the continent in a deregulated environment.
However, if this cannot be achieved it will look at options including setting up a new entity in Europe or moving its legal home from Luton to a European city. Dublin would be one city seen by the airline sector as attractive in terms of regulatory and tax issues, though Easyjet gave no indication of where it might look.
In a statement, easyJet said: “As part of easyJet’s contingency planning before the referendum we had informal discussions with a number of European aviation regulators about the establishment of an AOC (air operator certificate) in a European country to enable easyJet to fly across Europe as we do today.
“EasyJet has now started a formal process to acquire an AOC.”
It added that it has no plans to move its headquarters or jobs from its Luton base.
On Monday, easyJet said it anticipates economic and consumer uncertainty this summer and, as a result, revenue in the second half will be down by “at least a mid-single digit percentage”.
PA