The Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union tabled a first draft compromise on the revision of the EU regulations on air passenger rights on Wednesday 12 February (261/2004 and 2027/97). In particular, the document proposes to exempt Gibraltar from the revised Regulation, thereby responding to a long-standing request from Madrid.
Spain demands that Gibraltar airport should not be covered by European aviation legislation until the issue of the sovereignty of the small British territory claimed by Madrid for over three centuries has been resolved. The question of Gibraltar is thus a source of stalemate in other aviation issues, including the ‘Single European Sky’ (see EUROPE 11236/17).
The Croatian Presidency’s draft compromise also clarifies the guidelines it had recently presented to Member States with a view to advancing discussions on this dossier, which has been blocked since mid-2015 (see EUROPE 12417/6, 11334/7).
Extraordinary circumstances. As already announced, the Croatian Presidency suggests in particular that an exhaustive, and no longer partial, list be drawn up of the extraordinary circumstances under which air carriers would be exempted from their obligations towards passengers in the event of delays or cancellations.
Zagreb also considered that the technical defects could be considered as extraordinary circumstances, despite the concerns of some Member States that this would lead to a reduction in the level of passenger rights.
In order to avoid this scenario, the Croatian draft compromise foresees criteria that technical defects and/or problems must meet in order to be qualified as “unexpected flight safety shortcomings”.
Compensation thresholds. With regard to compensation for delays, contrary to what the European Commission had originally planned, the Croatian Presidency is of the opinion that no distinction should be made between delays due to re-routings caused by the cancellation of a flight and those that are not due to such circumstances.
Thus, Zagreb proposes a single regime of thresholds triggering the payment of compensation. Specifically, passengers would have the right to receive, on request, compensation from the air carrier, unless they reach their final destination with an arrival delay not exceeding: (1) 5 hours for journeys of 1,500 kilometres or less; (2) 9 hours for journeys between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometres and for intra-Community journeys of more than 3,500 kilometres; (3) 12 hours for extra-Community journeys of 3,500 kilometres or more.
Compensation levels. Finally, in line with what it had argued, Zagreb proposes to set the compensation at : €250 for flights of 1,500 km or less; €400 for intra-Community flights of more than 1,500 km and for extra-Community flights from 1,500 to 3,500 km; €600 for extra-Community flights of more than 3,500 km. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)