Revealed on
A new residents’ initiative is now amassing signatures to reverse what campaigners name a “passenger-hostile” EU proposal — one they are saying would value air travellers throughout Europe cash, time, and rights.
“After over a decade of legislative deadlock, EU governments are worsening the rights of EU passengers, and we intend to allow Europeans to talk out and in opposition to this,” professor Alberto Alemanno, founding father of The Good Foyer and one of many petition’s organisers, advised Euronews.
Whereas such an initiative doesn’t power the Fee to draft new legal guidelines, it does require a proper response inside six months — together with an evidence if it chooses to not act.
Underneath present EU guidelines, passengers can declare between €250 and €600 in compensation for delays of no less than three hours. Which will quickly change.
After 12 years of political impasse, a slim majority of EU nations just lately backed elevating the delay threshold to between 4 and 6 hours, whereas slicing compensation for long-haul flights (over 3,500 km) by €100.
The plan nonetheless wants approval from each the European Fee and the European Parliament — and MEPs throughout the political spectrum have already voiced robust opposition.
“Folks should at all times come first earlier than revenue, and that is no exception,” mentioned Dutch S&D MEP Mohammed Chahim. “Persons are not asking air corporations for a favour – they pay good cash for the companies and when these companies aren’t delivered individuals deserve correct therapy and affordable compensation.”
The European Shopper Affiliation (BEUC) warned that the upper thresholds would block most EU passengers from claiming compensation, since most delays fall between two and 4 hours.
However Airways for Europe (A4E) — representing carriers comparable to Ryanair, easyJet, and Lufthansa — argues the reform would make passenger rights “clearer” and “simpler” to implement.
“At the moment, airways are sometimes compelled to cancel flights they may in any other case function with a delay, as a result of brief delays set off compensation,” its managing director, Ourania Georgoutsakou, advised Euronews in an emailed assertion. “Most individuals need to attain their vacation spot, not wait round for a payout.”
The European Fee’s unique plan concerned growing the time threshold from three to 5 hours for short-haul flights, and from three to 9 hours for long-haul flights.
“Our evaluation exhibits that this transformation alone might stop as much as 70% of avoidable cancellations throughout Europe,” Georgoutsakou mentioned, including that it will assist airways recuperate schedules quicker, cut back knock-on delays, and keep away from pointless cancellations.
Parliament has till early October to current its counter-position — in response to the Council, which in June skipped its traditional casual talks with MEPs and adopted a legally binding stance.
“We can not enable the member states to undermine the hard-won rights of air passengers,” MEP Andrey Novakov (Bulgaria/EPP), main negotiator on the file, mentioned after the Council adopted its place in June.
“Weakening these rights would betray the belief that residents have positioned within the EU to defend their pursuits,” Novakov concluded.
