On Tuesday 13 January, Airlines for Europe (A4E), the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) expressed their “deep concern“ at the position taken at second reading by European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) on the revision of the Air Passenger Rights Regulation, adopted the previous day (see EUROPE 13784/8).
According to these associations, this position risks “weaken[ing] consumer choice” and “damag[ing] the competitiveness of the European aviation industry”. They feel that the regulation “already offers air transport consumer protections that create the heaviest burdens on airlines in the world without delivering the value that consumers are looking for”. They are advocating for the European Commission’s initial proposal, the intention of which was to “rebalance elements of that protection”.
A4E, ERA and IATA felt that this position “disregard[s] [...] operational realities”. They urged European decision-makers to “maintain a more realistic stance, [as the current regulation] already costs airlines and passengers €8.1 billion per year“. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)