EU Regulation EC261 faces regressive rollbacks that threaten to slash passenger protection and compensation. The European Parliament must defend this global consumer benchmark, ensuring airlines remain operationally accountable and European travellers retain meaningful access to justice.
For more than two decades, EU Regulation EC261 has been one of Europe’s clearest consumer success stories. It transformed air passenger rights from vague promises into enforceable protections, while creating powerful incentives for airlines to improve operational reliability.
The results are measurable: EU passengers today are 70% less likely to face delays exceeding three hours and 20% less likely to face same-day cancellations than travellers in the United States, where no comparable system exists. It is a framework that successfully prevents an estimated 8,400 hours of flight delays every year.
That is precisely why the European Parliament is right to stand firm and draw a definitive red line against weakening these protections.
As legislative discussions continue, the European Parliament has consistently resisted regressive proposals, including those advanced during the Cypriot Council Presidency, which sought to drastically reduce compensation levels. Under the proposal, baseline compensation for delays over three hours could fall from €250 to as little as €83, cutting payouts for delays between three and seven hours by up to 66%. Such changes would amount to one of the most significant rollbacks of existing air passenger rights in history.
