Michael Stark, deputy director of the Department for Transport’s aviation consumer policy team, said the government was committed to further consultation on reforming EU261 and passenger rights following Brexit, which means the UK can set its own rules.
He told Abta’s Aviation Forum in London: “There seems to be rare consensus in the industry it needs to be reformed. I am quietly confident this can be achieved when the alternative is sticking with a regulation everyone agrees does not work for them.”
Airlines object to EU261 because compensation paid to passengers often far outweighs the price paid for the ticket, with short-haul recompense ranging from £220pp to £350pp.
Speaking at the event on Monday (22 April), Abta senior solicitor Paula Macfarlane added: “The whole region of fixed compensation payments can be called into question; they are pretty high and not related to ticket prices.”
Stark said the government “hoped to reach out to the industry in due course”, but admitted attempts to change laws depended on parliamentary time in what is likely to be an election year. “Parliamentary capacity at this point is clearly very limited,” he said.
The DfT rewrote its Air Passenger Travel Guide in October, which aims to help passengers in situations of delays and cancellations, but Stark said: “At the moment, when it is helpful to have it to hand, not everybody’s response is: ‘I’m sure it’s on the government website, I know where to find it’.
"Unfortunately, we can’t publish it anywhere other than gov.uk.”
Sunvil managing director Chris Wright said the EU had been looking at 261 reform “for the last 10-15 years”. “We believe it [compensation] should be related to the ticket price; in its current form, it is too much of a cost burden,” he told delegates.
Wright added 261 also created contractual problems, with charter carriers afraid of potential big compensation bills over delays.
“Over the years, we have definitely seen situations where airlines cancel and compensation is deserved, but with charters, often you have an airline that wants to operate for you, but 261 makes it unviable,” he said.
