Originally Posted by
flygod
There are some serious points, and some serious answers:
A common currency? Why not? Many, many countries have had currencies pegged to that of another country. Hong Kong dollar, Moroccan Dirham (pegged to a basket of pound, euro dollar etc), Argentina (!) (sometimes!), many Caribbean countries, Eire. Admittedly, not all have been successful!
For BA, would make ticketing simple, but for us would remove arbitrage (which often happens when currencies change value significantly, and so lead to really cheap fares from certain countries where the IATA rate was fixes 18 months earlier).
Doesn't Jersey have a common currency?
Reduced APD.
Well, you can already escape UK APD by flying out of regional Scottish airports: try Inverness, Campbeltown, Wick etc. Unfortunately, the "BA" flight is not a "BA" flight, so can't use my avios!
But Qatar are now launching out of Edinburgh, the city is four hours by train from London - less from York or Newcastle - and will have the world's most expensive tram running out to the airport. Yes, they have almost finished it!! So there could be a real attraction for airline operators to fly out of Edinburgh rather than Heathrow. An opportunity for BA, or a threat?
Passports and visas.
Well, the UK at present actually has no enforceable borders. Try Googling the Lille Loophole on Eurostar. Or the paper-free travel from Eire to NI and then no checks on the "internal frontier" ferry from NI to Scotland. And that is using public transport!!
There are no prospects of borders and border controls between the home nations. Neither side is suggesting that will ever be a possibility.
So for BA, and FTers flying with BA or other airlines, no more paperwork than we already have to fly Scotland-LHR/LGW/LCY
Personally, I am in favour of local decision making.
I also think the UK's days of empire are truly over.
But regardless of my thoughts, as a business person this referendum is a tremendous opportunity.
It is an opportunity for the whole of the UK to really really think about what it stands for, individually and collectively, and then to replan for the future.
For BA, like any individual, it is such an opportunity too.
Forget the status quo, forget our history.
Where do we want to be in the future, and how are we going to get there?
This is what the OP was first asking, I think.
My answer is, I want BA to be a healthy and vibrant airline, with lots and lots of flights from all parts of the UK.
Regardless of "independence", it has already dropped an awful lot of services outside of London.
And regardless of "independence", there is a big future danger it could move to have more traffic based out of Madrid (if only because of LHR growth problems).
Jersey is a tiny island that isn't obsessed with independence and criticising the UK government at every and any opportunity. While there is no way to stop Scotland unilaterally using the Pound without our permission it rather defeats the point of fiscal independence don't you think?
The APD issue is clearly a threat to BA - though not quite as you described. Would many people from London go through the hassle of a long train ride all the way up to Edinburgh just to save a few quid (particularly as abolishing £1 of APD doesn't therefore mean the flight will be £1 cheaper)? I can see people from the North of England doing so regularly however. Either way BA lose out - they either lose London traffic to competitors in Edinburgh or they start operations from Edinburgh themselves, diluting their London figures.
Of course it does - just because they aren't 100% enforced doesn't mean they are "unenforceable". The Lille Loophole is negligible in comparison to an open border between England and Scotland (particularly as you have to go through border control upon arrival in the UK anyway), and the lack of border controls between the UK and Ireland is deliberate due to us being in a common travel area. If Scotland is forced to join the Schengen area then the only feasible options are for the UK and Ireland to join, or for there to be border checks between Scotland and the rest of the UK/Ireland. The reason it works between Ireland and the UK is because we have broadly harmonised immigration policies - that would not necessarily be the case with an independent Scotland both because of Schengen and because of plans to relax visa regulations for some non-EU countries. While it isn't desirable, it most certainly is a very real possibility.
More traffic based out of Madrid? I'm not aware of them having any traffic based there at all (other than the Madrid - London traffic, obviously). As long as IAG operates BA and Iberia independently, I don't see the logic in expanding BA at Madrid when they could just expand Iberia instead?