Standart reports that Brussels is considering the creation of a guarantee fund for airlines to protect passengers in the event of their bankruptcy.
The European Commission is considering various options for protecting the rights of passengers following issues raised by the bankruptcies of Hungarian airline "Malev" and Spanish "Spanair" in 2012, Standard learnt. With the collapses, thousands of tour operators and customers could not get their money back for the missed flights and prepaid services, Standart notes. Despite the EU consumer protection directives for these situations, only the costumers who paid by credit card for the tickets received their money back, Standart discloses. According to Standart, the European Commission recommended a number of measures for the self-protection of passengers and operators, so as to limit losses in the possible bankruptcy of airlines. It is expected that after the next discussion on the topic, the EU Commission will delegate new duties on the EU governments. Accordingly, they will probably need to monitor the financial status of airlines in their country and report to Brussels if they find financial difficulties or concerns that airlines cannot protect the rights of passengers, Standart notes. Once this happens, the union will recommend payments to these operators to pass through an escrow account and end-users and operators to organize a backup plan in advance of their travel, Standart says.
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