30.03.2011, 21:54
Ryanair to Introduce EU261 Compensation Levy
OREANDA-NEWS. March 30, 2011. Ryanair, Europe’s favourite airline, today (30th Mar) announced it would introduce a €2 levy per passenger for all bookings made from Monday 4th April 2011 in order to fund its costs of flight cancellations, delays and its EU261 costs in “force majeure” cases where the airline is not responsible for either the delays or cancellations.
Ryanair confirmed that over the past year it has suffered costs of over €100m arising from flight cancellations, delays and providing right to care, compensation and legal expenses arising from more than 15,000 flight cancellations and over 2.4 million disrupted passengers, with the majority of these claims arising in three periods during which Ryanair was prevented from flying by the failure/inaction of third parties including:
a) the Icelandic volcano airspace closures of April/May 2010,
b) the snow closures of many EU airports during November/December 2010,
c) over 15 days of national ATC strikes, primarily in Belgium, France, Germany and Spain in summer 2010, which caused repeated flight delays and cancellations.
Ryanair believes that the unfair and discriminatory elements of the airline EU261 regulations should be amended to relieve airlines of the burden of providing care in cases where the cancellations and/or delays are clearly not the responsibility or fault of the airlines.
It is unfair and discriminatory that airlines are made liable for providing refunds, meals, hotels and phonecalls during ATC strikes, bad weather airport closures, or (volcanic) airspace closures when even travel insurance companies avoid liability during these “force majeure” events, and when competing transport providers (rail, ferries and coach operators) have no such “force majeure” liability under their equivalent EU261 regulations.
These unfair and discriminatory EU261 expenses cannot be loaded onto airlines without being passed on to passengers. Over the past year, Ryanair has suffered more than €100m arising from flight delays, cancellations and related right to care compensation, and legal costs overturning unlawful fines by Government regulators who have tried to extend EU261 to cover cases specifically excluded from EU261.
Ryanair’s €2 EU261 levy will help to defray these costs, which are not recoverable from Governments, ATC providers or airports and which therefore fall on the airlines in their entirety. Ryanair also confirmed that if the EU261 regulations are reformed, to include an effective right of recovery clause and a non discriminatory “force majeure” clause then it will reduce and/or eliminate this levy altogether as Ryanair’s cancellation and delay costs reduce over the coming years.
Ryanair confirmed that over the past year it has suffered costs of over €100m arising from flight cancellations, delays and providing right to care, compensation and legal expenses arising from more than 15,000 flight cancellations and over 2.4 million disrupted passengers, with the majority of these claims arising in three periods during which Ryanair was prevented from flying by the failure/inaction of third parties including:
a) the Icelandic volcano airspace closures of April/May 2010,
b) the snow closures of many EU airports during November/December 2010,
c) over 15 days of national ATC strikes, primarily in Belgium, France, Germany and Spain in summer 2010, which caused repeated flight delays and cancellations.
Ryanair believes that the unfair and discriminatory elements of the airline EU261 regulations should be amended to relieve airlines of the burden of providing care in cases where the cancellations and/or delays are clearly not the responsibility or fault of the airlines.
It is unfair and discriminatory that airlines are made liable for providing refunds, meals, hotels and phonecalls during ATC strikes, bad weather airport closures, or (volcanic) airspace closures when even travel insurance companies avoid liability during these “force majeure” events, and when competing transport providers (rail, ferries and coach operators) have no such “force majeure” liability under their equivalent EU261 regulations.
These unfair and discriminatory EU261 expenses cannot be loaded onto airlines without being passed on to passengers. Over the past year, Ryanair has suffered more than €100m arising from flight delays, cancellations and related right to care compensation, and legal costs overturning unlawful fines by Government regulators who have tried to extend EU261 to cover cases specifically excluded from EU261.
Ryanair’s €2 EU261 levy will help to defray these costs, which are not recoverable from Governments, ATC providers or airports and which therefore fall on the airlines in their entirety. Ryanair also confirmed that if the EU261 regulations are reformed, to include an effective right of recovery clause and a non discriminatory “force majeure” clause then it will reduce and/or eliminate this levy altogether as Ryanair’s cancellation and delay costs reduce over the coming years.
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