Aviation industry braces for Brexit with CEOs divided over fallout

Brussels

AT an aviation summit in Brussels this past week, Europe's main airlines put on a display of unity over the challenges ahead. But the industry's chief executive officers were divided when it came to the biggest issue of all: Brexit. The UK's scheduled departure from the European Union (EU) in March 2019 has provoked widely varying reactions from carriers in the 28-nation bloc.

At one extreme are dire flight-cancellation warnings by Ryanair Holdings Plc CEO Michael O'Leary and at the other is nonchalance by his counterpart at British Airways owner IAG SA, fellow Irishman Willie Walsh.

The airline industry differs from others such as energy and chemicals where, from London to Lisbon, companies uniformly say that the UK's departure is a major headache. The dissonance suggests some carriers sense the possibility of a Brexit accord that would prevent hassles for tens of millions of air traveller…