EasyJet has said it is not planning to quit its Luton base following the United Kingdom voting to leave the European Union.
The news comes despite the airline admitting that it has started the formal procedure to acquire an air operator certificate (AOC) in a European country.
In a statement, the airline said: “easyJet is lobbying the UK government and the EU to ensure the continuation of a fully liberal and deregulated aviation market within the UK and Europe. This would mean that easyJet and all European airlines can continue to operate as they do today.
“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 in an European country to enable easyJet to fly across Europe as we do today.
“easyJet has now started a formal process to acquire an AOC.
“Until the outcome of the UK/EU negotiations are clearer easyJet does not need to make any other structural or operational changes.
“We have no plans to move from Luton – our home for 20 years.”