Ryanair has made this announcement as Europe and the UK brace for Brexit:

Ryanair on January 3, 2019 confirmed that the UK CAA has issued Ryanair UK with a UK AOC, which will allow this UK airline to operate UK domestic and UK to non-EU routes in a post-Brexit environment, if necessary.

Ryanair continues to call on the UK and EU to agree a transition deal from March 31, 2019, so that any disruption to flights and British consumer summer holidays in 2019 can be avoided.

Ryanair’s Juliusz Komorek said:

“We welcome the Civil Aviation Authority’s decision to grant our UK based airline, Ryanair UK, with a UK AOC, allowing Ryanair to operate UK domestic routes and UK to non-EU routes in a post-Brexit environment.

The risk of a ‘no deal’ Brexit in March is rising, and despite our robust post-Brexit structures, including our post-Brexit plan around European ownership, we continue to call for the UK and EU to agree a transition deal from March 31, 2019, so that any disruption to flights and British consumer summer holidays in 2019 can be avoided.”