Originally Posted by
paperHanger
It's worth also remembering that it rubs both ways ... if they want to be a PITA over EASA and do the "none of your licences are valid" thing .. we could do the same ...
That, however, is not what the EASA note says. They do not say anything at all about UK licenses, they just say that EASA licenses issued by the UK, (hence not UK licenses) will be invalid as the UK will not be a part of EASA anymore if there is no agreement. Even the EU is aware that they have no say over UK laws and rules after the UK is out, until then, of course, they have for all areas where the UK didn‘t opt out. I don‘t see that note as a threat, rather a statement of facts according to current rules of the EU, which are, after all, largely written by UK experts.
While switzerland does not fall officially under ECJ rulings, they still had to accept them so far, for example in the final ECJ ruling over approach routes into ZRH, after switzerland dismissed the EU commission ruling over those.
Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland are not full EU members, however they are part of the EEA which still contains the four basic freedoms and are subject to the EFTA court which corresponds to the ECJ in most areas except for those exclusive to the three EFTA states.
While China may be in demand for mainly captains (not so much aircraft, they get and park them until the have sufficient captains), they are apparently not really keen on wet leases and anyone operating there has to follow their rules, including CAAC checks and chinese medicals.