British no-frills airline EasyJet said Friday, July 1 it had applied for a European Union license to keep flying throughout the bloc even after Brexit, becoming the first carrier to activate a contingency plan, AFP reports.

The carrier said it had begun a formal procedure to obtain an air operator certificate (AOC) to keep the status quo after Britain's vote last week to quit the European Union cast doubts over airline routes.

"EasyJet is lobbying the UK government and the EU to ensure the continuation of a fully liberal and deregulated aviation market within the UK and Europe," it said in a statement.

"This would mean that EasyJet and all European airlines can continue to operate as they do today.

"As part of EasyJet's contingency planning before the referendum we had informal discussions with a number of European aviation regulators about the establishment of an AOC in an European country to enable easyJet to fly across Europe as we do today.

"EasyJet has now started a formal process to acquire an AOC," it said, according to AFP.

EasyJet stressed that it had no plans to move from Luton, which lies north of the British capital and where the airline has been based for two decades.