On Sunday, Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association, (IATA) said that airlines are prepared to prevent a repeat of last year’s travel mayhem, however he warned controller strikes could still cause some delays. He also lashed out at schemes which force airlines to pay compensation for delays which could not be avoided.
In the interview he said, “I am reasonably confident that we’ll be able to get through this peak summer without too much disruption.”
However leaders in the airline sector who attended the IATA’s annual meeting in Istanbul this week continue to be concerned about disruptions in air traffic control in Europe and the United States.
In an interview, Walsh said, “But as far as they are concerned, they have fulfilled their obligation to get their resources in place for this summer. Most of the airports I think, will be okay, as well; I think they’ve learned the lessons from last year.”
Last summer, as air travel rebounded after the pandemic, that combined with lingering labor shortages to cause chaos at several airports in North America and Europe. It triggered a debate over various government-imposed measures to prevent such chaos in the future and punish airlines for delays.
As disputes between passengers and airlines have grown globally, it has led to calls for passengers to receive compensation when airlines fail to smoothly deliver passengers from their departure to their destinations.
In Canada, there is legislation under review to address the issue, while in the US, the government is in the process of writing new rules. In the European Union, policymakers are pushing to see “Regulation 261,” which requires passengers be paid compensation for delays of more than three hours, be more aggressively enforced.
Walsh said, “Ultimately it is the consumer who’s paying because this is of course being borne by the industry, but the industry can’t just absorb that. The more expense that airlines have to incur because of problems outside of their control, the more that’s going to be reflected in ticket prices, and it will drive ticket prices up. It is a very, very frustrating environment to be operating in.”
Passenger groups have complained that airlines have managed to avoid paying compensation by invoking the exemption in the rule for delays caused by exceptional circumstances. EU rules allow such an exemption, requiring only that airlines show their actions were reasonably designed to prevent any delay.
Regardless, passengers are returning to the air, as airlines report strong bookings for the summer as traffic returns to pre-Covid levels.
It is a rebound from the outlook last year, when European air traffic control agency Eurocontrol predicted that in 2023 the industry would see “the most challenging year of the last decade” since airlines would be forced to confront fallout from the Ukraine conflict, potential strikes, rising numbers of aircraft transiting airports, and the Asian markets reopening.
