Brussels, 15/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - The airline companies and airports of 32 European countries signed "voluntary undertakings" on the quality of passenger services, at an official ceremony at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on 14 February. Most large European companies, regional companies an charter companies signed this voluntary agreement in which they undertake, for example, to inform passengers of the causes of a delay, improve the speed of registration, and ensure more price transparency. Specific undertakings were made for the assistance of people with reduced mobility. Only a few low-fare companies, Ryanair or Easyjet refused to participate. The list of undertakings made by the companies and airports has been published by the European Civil Aviation Conference, the ECAC, on its internet site (http://www.Ecac.ceac.org ).
These undertakings were drawn up by associations representing airline companies and airports under the impetus of the European Commission, in collaboration with ECAC and consumer associations. They were formally presented in Lisbon on 10 May 2001 (see EUROPE of 5 May, p, 16 and 19 May, p.16). Commissioner de Palacio declared through her spokesperson that the agreement "is an important step for improving the quality of the service, and, whence, for the re-establishment of an industry badly affected by the attacks".
Satisfied with the results, the President of the Association of European Airline Companies (AEA) and President of KLM, Leo van Wijk, took advantage of the occasion of this ceremony to protest against the Commission's proposals on overbooking. Early-January, the Commission adopted a draft regulation that provides for compensation for victims of "refusals to board" ranging from 750 to 1,500 euro, against the current 150 to 300 (see EUROPE of 9 January, p.12). "We believe that the proposal to multiply the amounts by five is, to put it mildly, untimely and unhelpful", said Leo van Wijk, pressing the Commission to "review its proposal and work on one that is acceptable to all parties".