Just got an email from the BF about this. It might be a big issue for non UK passport holders visiting the UK. Basically it is here and on my reading it would pretty much kill off GA travel to the UK. Is it real?
But, hey, it’s all good. They have produced an ETA App for Android and IOS 
It costs £10 to apply.
I emailed them saying this is likely to wipe out 99% of GA traffic from mainland Europe to the UK and is similar to flying to Albania 20 years ago.
This is the UK equivalent of ETIAS (Schengen) and ESTA (US) – a general multi trip entry authorisation you get on the web. Already exists for some countries in the Middle East. Valid for a few years.
Absolutely, all these schemes have three elements
- Pre-approval (ETIAS/ESTA/ETA) valid for several years
- Passenger notification and travel approval before departure
- Border control
The second one is the real potential issue; all these schemes are designed around “carriers” who submit passenger lists electronically and receive approvals; for ETIAS general aviation is fortunately exempt; for trips to the UK the GAR system could do this.
Actual border control may also be an issue, depending on what the powers-that-be decide is mandatory to be a “port of entry”, and whether the UK decides that GAR + turning up is still enough once ETA is live.
If you check the link I posted, the UK implementation is certainly not intended to be just the GAR.
To travel to the UK, you will need to apply for the ETA. That can take up to 3 days. Then it will be valid for a while.
And a GAR as usual on each entry and exit.
So this will kill off spur of the moment trips to the UK, from mainland Europe.
Much will depend on how fast it is. No reason why it can’t be as fast as the current GAR’s “permission to travel” which comes back, usually, in a minute or two.
I agree – what I meant is the GAR can serve as step 2 – notification of an individual trip. The system certainly has the potential to be fast – it basically checks the passport number against the ETA database.
The passport requirement has already killed off a lot of “spur of the moment” travel to the UK; many of continental Europeans do not have a passport, just a national ID card. ETA is just another hassle; at least it is not per trip.
Agree re passport. From Germany I can even travel to Egypt or Turkey just with my ID card…
The passport bit has not changed in decades if ever. Not really an issue, realistically. If you are going to fly to Egypt you will need to do a lot of groundwork.
The UK was never in schengen, so passports were always needed.
Let’s hope the ETA app + delay are easy and quick.
The ETA will be valid for 2 years, I don’t think that’s too bad. Not too different from ESTA, and ETIAS is valid for 3 years.
ETIAS applies to non-EU nationals/residents for GA flights as well. It is the EES (entry/exit system) that GA flights are exempt from.
The problem is that I think EES is a visa exemption scheme which is a benefit being given to UK passport holders. So if you don’t have an EES wouldn’t that mean that you had to have a visa. ETIAS on the other hand is AIUI a database to make sure people don’t overstay their time limits and can keep undesirables out.
