Brussels, 10/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - As the summer holiday period approaches, the European Commission published new guidelines on Friday 10 June on Regulation 261/2004 on the rights of air passengers who are denied boarding or if flights are cancelled or subject to long delay.
The clarification of the regulation, which establishes common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights, focuses on four key points: - the right to compensation for a delay of three hours at the final destination; - the right to compensation for a missed connecting flight; - the right to compensation in extraordinary circumstances (for example, technical defect or aircraft collisions with other aircraft/devices); - the right to assistance and care during exceptional events, such as the ash cloud in 2010.
These clarifications, provided for in the Aviation Strategy for Europe (see EUROPE 11438), seek to facilitate air travel for passengers and assist air carriers and their agents to improve the application of the regulation, the Commission says. The Commission guidance has been informed by the rulings handed down by the Court of Justice of the EU, the most recent of which related to the powers of national bodies in dealing with individual applications for compensation (see EUROPE 11515 and EUROPE 11469).
The proposed amendment of the regulation submitted by the previous Commission in 2013 is currently at a standstill in the Council of the EU, where the issue Gibraltar has brought the matter to a halt (see EUROPE 11210). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)