But Mark Swan, group director of safety and airspace regulation at the CAA, said: "It is misleading for Sky News to say that 35,000 pilots would need to renew their pilot's licence in a 'no-deal' Brexit scenario. Both commercial and private UK pilot licences would remain valid for use on UK-registered aircraft as the United Kingdom is a signatory to the International Civil Aviation Organisation Chicago Convention.

"Our licences are internationally recognised - including by the European Aviation Safety Agency - both now and after 29 March 2019.


"The CAA will continue to issue and reissue pilots' licences when they are lost, damaged, when details need to be changed or pilots' privileges updated as we do now. Over time, this would include removing references to EASA - a purely cosmetic change. There will be no requirement for licences to be re-issued for any other reason meaning that there will be no change to this process.