Change urged to EU flight cancellation law

March 2, 2012
A recent European Court of Justice ruling declared that airlines could not as a general rule refuse to pay compensation for flights cancelled due to technical problems with the aircraft

The head of the European Regional Airline Association told an international aviation safety conference in Dublin that there was a need for a revision of the existing legislation.

ERA director general Mike Ambrose criticised the EU regulation which provides for payments of up EUR 250 per passenger for all flights of less than 1,500km and EUR 600 for all flights in excess of 3,500km.

However, airlines are exempt from paying compensation to passengers when flights are cancelled due to extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.

A recent European Court of Justice ruling declared that airlines could not as a general rule refuse to pay compensation for flights cancelled due to technical problems with the aircraft.

A revision of the legislation is being considered by the European Commission.

"The [EU regulation] operates directly against good safety practice by providing an incentive to operate rather than cancel a flight," said Mr Ambrose.

"The primary right of every passenger is the expectation of a safe operation."

He highlighted how an airline with seven aircraft operating 15,400 flights per annum carrying 754,600 passengers with an average fare revenue of EUR 70 would see their annual profit wiped out if 43 flights were cancelled during a year.

The ERA called on national aviation authorities, as the primary bodies responsible for maintaining safety, to insist that any revision of the EU regulation on air passenger rights should allow for flights cancelled for safety reasons to be exempted from cancellation payments.

Meanwhile, the European Court of Justice has ruled that airlines and travel agents may not automatically include travel insurance when selling airline tickets.

The court yesterday issued a preliminary ruling in a case involving the German subsidiary of the online travel company, Ebookers, which found optional extras such as insurance may only be offered to customers on an "opt-in" basis.

In a ruling, an advocate general of the ECJ said extras such as insurance could not be regarded as forming part of the final price of a flight for the purposes of price comparison.

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