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 percent less likely to face delays exceeding three hours and face 20 percent less 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.
Such changes would amount to one of the most significant rollbacks of existing air passenger rights in history.
That is precisely why the European Parliament is right to stand firm and draw a definitive red line against weakening these protections.
Moving beyond false compromises
