What is already happening is that British airlines establish subsidiaries inside EU as that will allow them to traffic EU . EZ has already done so, for instance. However, this is under scrutiny, as it is clealy just a front, put up to manouver around the regulations.
This passage of the article is very strange:
According to diplomatic sources, a Finnish negotiating group was able to introduce an addition to the proposal calling for the preservation of “a strong level playing field” in the negotiations. In other words, the group wanted to ensure that the talks would not only consider flights between the UK and existing EU countries, but would also take into consideration flight connections beyond the EU.
'Level playing field' has nothing to do with flight connections. It is about accepting ECJ rulings, which France is pushing very hard for (and frankly is only natural)
UK talks about adhearing to regulations "in spirit" but has set a "red line" when it comes to fully implement regulations and to adhear to ECJ.
What France is saying, is that it is unthinkable to allow an operator to traffic EU without adheraring to the same rules as everyone else. Level playing field.