Brussels, 09/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - According to an internal survey carried out by the European Commission on the basis of requests for information received by Europe Direct (EU information centres) over the past year, flight cancellations and delays are the main concerns of air passengers. Since the Europe Direct portal opened in November 2008 at DG Transport at the request of outgoing Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani, the number of requests referring to air passengers' rights has constantly increased. The commissioner, who hoped to keep this field in his new portfolio (industry), said this shows that passengers are becoming increasingly aware of their rights. In future, the Commission believes one request out of ten will concern passengers' rights, but fears it will be faced with a growing number of requests for information on the financial situation of airlines. According to Europe Direct, requests on airlines have flooded in following two recent cases of airline bankruptcy (MyAir and SkyEurope), with the service finding it impossible to provide a rapid response. In such cases, the service asks to be rapidly informed of the general situation and on the fact of whether a company has a licence (we would point out that, under the current legislation, a company about to fail may lose its operating licence).
The same observations, made on the basis of information directly submitted by citizens, also complete the quarterly report on Europe Direct activity (October-December 2009). According to such observations, flight cancellations were the most common incident reported to Community bodies. Most requests for information in the field of passengers' rights also concerned cancellations (34.6%) or delays (32.5%). Refused embarkation was the subject of 9.3% requests and luggage problems 8.5%. Some problems were also reported on the subject of low cost companies, which are often not represented at airport level, meaning passengers must find their own accommodation and alternative transport solutions. Most incidents occurred in the larger EU countries which are also the preferred holiday destinations (Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, France and Italy). During the fourth quarter 2009, Europe Direct recorded 1,778 requests from nationals of the older member states (EU15), most of which (268) came from Spain (followed by Germany with 233 requests). In the new member states (EU12), requests are far less frequent - 88 recorded during the whole of the last quarter 2009. In total last year, 7.4% of all requests were on passengers' rights. (A.By./transl.jl)