On Wednesday 21 January in Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted its position at second reading on the revision of the rules on air passenger rights by 632 votes to 15, with 9 abstentions.
Parliament thus rejected the EU Council’s proposal, drawn up in June 2025 (see EUROPE 13654/1), preferring to maintain the current provisions (see EUROPE 13784/8). This is why the interinstitutional negotiations (trilogues), which began in October, have not resulted in an agreement (see EUROPE 13764/10).
In particular, with regard to the right to compensation in the event of flight delays, Parliament wishes to retain the three-hour threshold from which reimbursement is possible, as well as the amount of compensation, ranging from €300 to €600 depending on the distance travelled.
“The Council of the EU is trying to take away 60% of the compensation of all passengers. 60%!”, protested the rapporteur, Andrey Novakov (EPP, Bulgarian), during the debate the previous day. In his view, there are many other ways of supporting an airline than reducing passenger rights. “You can support the airport, you can decrease the airport taxes, you can decrease the air traffic control taxes or any other way of optimisation”, he said.
In accordance with the second reading procedure, Parliament’s position will be forwarded to the EU Council. The trilogues should therefore resume soon under the Cyprus Presidency of the EU Council. If the latter does not accept all of Parliament’s amendments, a Conciliation Committee will be convened to reach agreement on the final version of the legislative text.
“We are rather optimistic for the trilogue, defending a solid, united and ambitious position”, said the French delegation of the Greens/EFA Group before the debate.
During the debate, Apóstolos Tzitzikóstas, European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, expressed his support for the three-hour threshold. “Improving enforcement is a key part of the Commission’s proposals on air passenger rights (...). Weak enforcement leads to consumer dissatisfaction and frustration, but it also risks distorting the level playing field between operators”, he added.
Read the position: https://aeur.eu/f/kc6 (Original version in French by Anne Damiani, with Isalia Stieffatre)