There are an increasing number of urgent calls for a solution that will allow air passengers to be reimbursed without further weakening the airlines.
In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, several European ministers are pleading for a voucher system to replace refunds due to passengers whose flights were cancelled, a provision which is made legally impossible by the European regulation on passenger rights (see 261/2004 - EUROPE 12459/7).
However, the airlines are in the middle of a serious financial crisis. According to figures released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on 24 March, the COVID-19 crisis is expected to deprive the global airline industry of $252 billion in passenger revenues by 2020.
For example, Dutch Infrastructure Minister Cora Van Nieuwenhuizen has said that Dutch airlines will not have to reimburse cancelled flights (see EUROPE 12458/10).
Following the example of the German government (see EUROPE 12461/24), the Irish Minister of Transport, Shane Ross, for his part has sent a letter to the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina-Ioana Vălean, on Wednesday 8 April calling for a relaxation of Regulation 261/2004 on refunds.
Denmark has “made vouchers more attractive to consumers and protected them against insolvency”, detailed Commissioner Vălean in a response to EUROPE.
Members of the European Parliament mobilised. A letter was also sent on Friday 10 April by 18 EPP MEPs to Ms Vălean as well as to the Executive Vice-President of the Commission, Margrethe Vestager, the Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, and the Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton.
Included among the signatories were: Marian Marinescu (Romania), coordinator for the Committee on Transport and Pablo Arias Echeverría (Spain), rapporteur on the revision of Regulation 261/2004.
MEPs believe that the measure obliging airlines to reimburse passengers “was not designed for mass cancellations in a crisis context”. They are urging the Commission to adopt a temporary amendment to the regulation, proposing, among other things, that airlines should be able to offer vouchers for 110% of the ticket price, or that reimbursement deadlines should be extended until October 2020.
Achieving the “right balance”. Invited to answer questions from the Internal Market Committee (IMCO) MEPs on Tuesday 14 April, Mr Reynders said that a “right balance between consumer protection and supporting tourism businesses” had to be struck.
“We are working on this with Mr Breton and Ms Vălean”, he said, drawing members' attention to the importance of “protecting the solvency of the vouchers”.
Commissioner Vălean, for her part, reiterated to EUROPE that she was “fully aware of the unprecedented difficulties the airlines are facing” and committed herself to monitoring developments and measures taken at a national level.
See the letter from the Irish Minister: https://bit.ly/34BxThv - and that sent by the EPP: https://bit.ly/2z13KfY (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)