EU TRANSPORT commissioner Slim Kallas wants the aviation industry to agree new contingency plans to prevent any repeat of last month’s snow-related disruption.
After a meeting in Brussels yesterday with the chiefs of 12 European airports, among them Dublin Airport Authority chief executive Declan Collier, Mr Kallas said he wanted better information for passengers when their flights were delayed and improved capacity to clean snow and ice from runways.
“This should be created by business itself so I hope it will not be a creation of European departments,” he said. “The situation as a whole is unacceptable.”
He acknowledged the divergent interests between airlines, airports and ground handlers as the authorities try to define quality standards for the services provided by each sector and said compromise was necessary. “For the future we must have more clear rules and more clear quality standards so that we can clearly see who is responsible for what.”
At present regulations give passengers the right to information, care and reimbursement in event of delays, he said.
However, passengers cannot directly present claims against airports. They must first make claims to airlines which can in turn make claims to airports if merited. Mr Kallas said he recognised this was very complicated. “You should very precisely know what is going on, what has happened.”
