In any scenario, Brexit has severe negative consequences for the UK aerospace industry and Airbus in particular... While Airbus understands that the political process must go on, as a responsible business we require immediate details on the pragmatic steps that should be taken to operate competitively… Put simply, a No Deal scenario directly threatens Airbus’ future in the UK.

A year ago, I set out a number of areas in which we needed to see urgent progress – aviation access, movement of key workers, VAT and consumer rights. Twelve months on, and we still don’t have any clarity on any of these.

Whilst this is good news for the economy and our industry, the reality is that it has taken successive governments 20 years to make a decision, and we still have the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn saying he may reverse this decision if Labour forms the next government.

Aviation, tourism and travel have never been more important to this country. Our future prosperity will depend even more on reaching out to global partners. Securing a good deal for aviation with the best possible access to Europe remains one of our key Brexit priorities.

We should aim to be part of the European common aviation area, which extends the liberalised aviation market beyond the EU and covers 36 countries, including Iceland and Norway… It is essential, however, to avoid slipping back with no deal at all and having to rely on age-old agreements that are no longer fit for the times that we fly in.

Without an agreed solution then supply chain disruption across Europe will occur, parts will be unable to be delivered, pilots and maintenance technicians will be unable to work, aerospace companies in the UK will lose foreign validations for their business, and aircraft will be grounded globally.

We are engaging with politicians here in the UK, we are engaging with politicians in the member states and the EU, with politicians in Brussels as well; everybody tells me the same thing: they want to have a deal on aviation. It would just be inconceivable that there would be no flying post-Brexit, so I’m very optimistic that there will be a deal on this.

Right now we will continue to sell [tickets] in the hope and belief that when a conclusion comes to the Brexit scenario, common sense will prevail and people will realise the need for intra-Europe travel. The biggest fear has to be if at the eleventh hour and fifty-ninth minute there is a complete cessation and breakdown, and a shutdown of air travel between the UK and Europe. That is the ultimate worry.