The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has criticised new plans by the US government to force airlines to pay compensation for flight delays and cancellations.
The US Department of Transportation on Monday (8 May) announced it would initiate a rulemaking process designed to require airlines to compensate passengers for flight cancellations and delays caused by carriers.
The proposed rule would require “airlines to provide compensation and cover expenses for amenities such as meals, hotels and rebooking when airlines are responsible for stranding passengers”.
But IATA warned that such a move would “raise the cost” of flights by creating an “added layer of expense” for airlines in dealing with the impact of disruption to services.
Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general, added: “Airlines already have financial incentives to get their passengers to their destination as planned. Managing delays and cancellations is very costly for airlines and passengers can take their loyalty to other carriers if they are not satisfied with service levels.
“The added layer of expense that this regulation will impose will not create a new incentive, but it will have to be recouped – which is likely to have an impact on ticket prices.”
The US DOT is only planning for airlines to be made responsible for compensating passengers when they are “deemed responsible” for disruption to their flights.
But IATA added in a statement: “Severe weather and other issues can have knock-on effects for days or even weeks later, at which point it can be difficult to impossible to isolate a single causal factor.”
The association also argued that the EU’s existing airline passenger rights regulation, known as EU261, has been found to have “no impact” on the overall level of flight delays and cancellations, due to the increase in disruption classed as “extraordinary circumstances”, such as air traffic control delays.
“Aviation is a highly integrated activity involving a number of different partners, each of whom has a vital role in ensuring the smooth operation of the air transport system,” added Walsh.
“Instead of singling out airlines as this proposal most assuredly does, the Biden Administration should be working toward ensuring a fully funded FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), a fully staffed controller workforce and completing the rollout of the decades-delayed FAA NextGen air traffic control modernisation programme.”