“The Supreme Court decision will hopefully shed light on the lack of logic and fairness in the regulation towards the airline industry which has been singled out to pay in many cases a multiple of the original product price. In addition to always paying for accommodation, ground transport, meals and eventual rerouting on to other carriers or leasing in of aircraft in cases of any delay.
I think that there should be penalties for airlines who do not provide meals, accommodation and care when applicable and needed during any delays over 2 hours. There is however little logic and certainly no fairness in applying a penalty of between 4-600 Euros for customers who perhaps paid less than 100 Euros for their air fares,” says Hrafn Thorgeirsson, CEO, Primera Air to TTO Scandinavia.
This follows the Supreme Court in Denmark has ruled that twelve Primera Air passengers should receive compensation for delays due to technical problems. Primera Air must pay each of the passengers DKK 3,000 (€400) in damages.
Hrafn Thorgeirsson:
“Airlines only make money when aircraft are in the air so there is no motivation for any airline to delay unnecessarily or unfairly any flight. Any delay has always been an expensive exercise for all carriers. Our industry has of course created an environment of safety that would have been unimaginable even 20 years ago. Our standards are not just set high – they are always highest possibly achievable and aircraft have up to 3 backup systems to ensure the safety of passengers and crews. Laws, regulations, instructions from manufacturers, own quality systems and constant checking by legal authorities of all aspects of aviation companies in the EU means that our organization and our aircraft need to be in such a standardized and perfect condition to meet these requirments.
However due to the same standards of quality cited above we must also always err on the side of safety – this means that aircraft can never be operated if there is a shadow of doubt as to the absolute safety of all passengers and crews. These high standards also mean that on occasion aircraft will necessarily be delayed to maintain safety and security in some cases too.
My proposal is:
First Rule:
Compensation if DEPARTURE delayed over 4-9 hours if flight is over 2 hours and up to 6 hours – 100 EUR
Second:
Compensation if DEPARTURE delayed over 10 hours if flight is 6 hours and beyond – 250 EUR
Third:
No compensation shall be lower than 100 EUR in any case but never higher than original price of ticket purchased excluding taxes and fees
An aircraft carrying 150 passengers each way to X-airport is now costing 120,000 EUR – delayed beyond 3 hours and let us say this is an Atlantic island and the aircraft will be delayed 24 hours there. In addition the airline will have to pay:
- HOTEL ROOMS
- BUSSES/TAXIS
- LEASING IN OTHER AIRCRAFT
- REROUTING OF AIRCRAFT
- REPAYMENT OF SERVICES
- MEALS AND FOOD
- EXTRA CREW
- FERRYING BACK OF EMPTY AIRCRAFT AFTER REPAIR
- DOUBLE HANDLING COSTS
- OVERTIME OF STAFF
- LESSENED UTILIZATION OF STAFF AND EQUIPMENT.
Everyone can also see how the regime of the EU261 affects smaller carriers, low-cost and leisure airline who operate point-to-point flights more harshly that other carriers and the directive itself creates an ENTRY BARRIER for competition in both the short and long term. A smaller carrier of perhaps 4 aircraft can be bankrupted within a few days of having an aircraft damaged by a 3rd party such as another operator which strikes wingtip of smaller carrier´s plane. Such damage can take weeks to repair. The smaller carrier´s aircraft was parked is found to be 100 percent no fault.
So to end where I started – airlines benefit only when aircraft are AIRWORTHY and AIRBORNE so there is no need to penalize airlines this way.
“Will the Supreme Court decision in Denmark influence compensation in Sweden, Norway, Baltic and Finland?
“You are asking me a legal question and I am not a legally trained person. But in my personal opinion than most probably the decision will affect our understanding of this Directive,” says Hrafn Thorgeirsson.
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