Negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached agreement on certain points concerning the revision of air passenger rights at a meeting (trilogue) on Monday 23 March.
“Today we have relaunched negotiations aimed at finally modernising air passenger rights, which is an absolute priority for the Cyprus Presidency of the Council”, stressed the Minister of Transport, Communications and Public Works, Alexis Vafeades. “These rights must be simple, enforceable and fair: to protect passengers, guarantee their unhindered access, preserve connectivity and ensure the competitiveness of EU carriers”, he added.
“The trilogue was positive and very constructive”, commented a European source contacted by Agence Europe. The meeting was attended by the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, and the European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, Apóstolos Tzitzikóstas.
The negotiators supported all the solutions found at technical level. As a result, there have been a number of mergers and acquisitions: - the rights of passengers with reduced mobility; - the price ceiling for hotel nights in the event of cancelled flights; - ticket transfers; - transport of musical instruments; - stopovers; - vouchers; - the procedures to be followed by airlines for forgotten and unchecked baggage.
According to the source, these points will be returned to the technical level for formal drafting. However, “these points of rapprochement do not mean that an agreement has been reached”, warned the source, as there are still sensitive issues on the table, which will be addressed during the conciliation (see EUROPE 13831/19).
These are: no-show clauses, passenger check-in (online or on site, paper or digital tickets), hand luggage, scope of application, thresholds and amounts of compensation in the event of delay and extraordinary circumstances.
The negotiators also decided to relaunch discussions on revising the regulation on the application of passenger rights. These discussions, which began in mid-October 2025, have been put on hold pending progress in the negotiations on air passenger rights, as certain provisions of this text are linked to the regulation (see EUROPE 13666/14).
A second formal meeting, possibly in the form of a trilogue, should take place around 20 April, before the start of conciliation in late May/early June. The aim is to make progress towards an agreement before the European Parliament plenary session in July. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)