Easyjet nears launch of Austrian airline to allow post-Brexit flights in Europe

EasyJet hopes to soon receive a licence in Austria to enable it to launch a new budget airline headquartered in Vienna and continue operating flights across Europe after the UK has left the EU, however negotiations go in the coming two years.

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Earlier this year, the FTSE 100 company applied to Austria's Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology and air regulator Austro Control for an airline operating licence.

"The accreditation process is now well advanced and easyJet hopes to receive the AOC and licence in the near future," the company said on Friday, adding that it had chosen Austria as it felt the regulator "would be the best fit".

The new structure would mean easyJet plc would own three airlines based in Austria, Switzerland and the UK, with the UK-based parent company EU owned and controlled, and listed on the London Stock Exchange.

No jobs will move from the UK to Austria, the company stressed, with all of its UK employees continuing to be based in Luton and its other UK bases and employed as they are today.

Easyjet Europe will use existing staff and aeroplanes that are already employed and based in EU countries.