By Thomas Reynaert, Senior Vice President, External Affairs
Here’s a quick question: if we were to ask air travellers how they would rate their last flight, what percentage do you think would say they were “satisfied”?
The answer might surprise you. Over the last several years of our passenger survey, the average has been over 96%.
That shows that most flights operate as planned and without disruption. That is no small feat for a business as complex as one that flies people around the planet. But that good record is small comfort to the passenger who has suffered a lapse in service.
Taking care of those travelers is a top priority for airlines who operate in a competitive world in which their customers have plenty of choice. Reflecting this, a decade ago, governments also took up the issue and worked together through ICAO to agree core principes for passenger rights regulations.
ICAO’s Core Principles on Consumer Protection matter because people traveling globally expect “the system” to treat them similarly no matter where they fly. This is something that airlines strongly support as well. They want to meet traveler expectations for global consistency. And they understand that the most cost-efficient and effective way is when government regulations align.
The role of the Principles in providing a consistent framework is key. And they take a pragmatic approach to what travelers should expect when things do not go as planned:
The benefits of these Principles are very clear. Ensuring consistency between regulations on consumer protection across multiple borders and jurisdictions gives passengers confidence and trust in the aviation system (and thus makes them more likely to fly).
The Principles are designed to strike a balance. They aim to protect passengers’ rights without creating rigid or heavy-handed rules that could do more harm than good. This matters because most travelers care about affordability. Airlines already operate with very tight margins, so if governments impose inconsistent or overly strict regulations, it could drive up ticket prices, reduce competition, and still do nothing to actually prevent or reduce travel disruptions.
The Principles recognise the consumer benefits of a competitive sector in which air carriers are free to differentiate themselves through their service offerings as well as being encouraged to innovate. They also allow for flexibility in cases of natural disasters, or airspace closures, such as we saw in the COVID-19 pandemic. It is only fair that airlines are not penalized for circumstances beyond their control.
Unfortunately, while governments agreed to the core principles, passenger rights regulations have been embellished over the last decade in ways that can only be described as “mission creep”. And the result has not been positive for either travelers or the airlines they use.
The most obvious example is the EU261 rules in Europe which go far beyond ICAO’s principle of proportionality. Does it make sense for airlines to compensate travelers more than what they paid for the ticket? Or when the “fault’ for the disruption is an airport or air traffic control delay? Worst of all, the cost of this compensation amounts to EUR5 billion annually. That makes airfares more expensive for everybody and none of that money actually goes to solutions for disruptions, such as making air traffic control more efficient.
The example of EU261, and proposals in other parts of the world, shows the damage that fragmented regulation can cause. ICAO’s vision is “to achieve the sustainable growth of the aviation system”, and the Core Principles are an excellent example of this in practice.
Like a well-proven aircraft, after a decade of service, the Core Principles are certainly fit to continue for years to come, but they probably deserve a refurbishment. At ICAO’s forthcoming Assembly this September, we are asking states to strengthen the Principles (recognizing the changes that have taken place in aviation since 2015) and ensure that they are reflected when considering their own consumer regulations.
A strengthened and supported ICAO Core Principles on Consumer Protection will ensure that on the rare occasion things go wrong, passengers get the right and proportionate support. Equally importantly, the Principles should incentivize the aviation system to do better, rather than just punishing airlines for falling short.
