The International Air Transport Association and Airlines 4 America separately criticized the U.S. Department of Transportation's proposed rule, announced Monday, that would require airlines to compensate passengers for flight cancellations and delays caused by carriers.
"Airlines work hard to get their passengers to their destinations on time and do their best to minimize the impacts of any delays," IATA director general Willie Walsh said in a statement. "Airlines already have financial incentives to get their passengers to their destination as planned. Managing delays and cancellations is very costly for airlines. And passengers can take their loyalty to other carriers if they are not satisfied with service levels. The added layer of expense that this regulation will impose will not create a new incentive, but it will have to be recoupled—which is likely to have an impact on ticket prices."
DOT in its Monday announcement noted it had launched a dashboard on Sept. 1, 2022, that outlines the compensation the 10 largest U.S. carriers offer passengers when there is a cancellation or delay. IATA referenced that dashboard, noting that all included carriers offer meals or cash vouchers to customers during extended delays, while nine of the 10 also offer complimentary hotel accommodations for passengers affected by an overnight cancellation.
IATA also noted that most situations would not be covered by this regulation as "weather is responsible for a bulk of air travel delays and flight cancellations." It further argued that air traffic controller shortages played a role in last year's delays and remain an issue in 2023.
A4A agreed, citing in a blog post that "so far in 2023, the majority of flight cancellations have been because of severe weather in addition to ATC outages and staffing shortages during and following weather events."
The A4A airline organization also credited the carriers with having "taken responsibility for challenges within their control," including launching aggressive hiring campaigns and reducing their schedules by about 15 percent to alleviate pressure on the National Airspace System. Further, U.S. airlines "are currently accommodating record demand while operating 10 percent fewer flights than in 2019 to reduce pressure on the system."
"Aviation is a highly integrated activity involving a number of different partners, each of whom has a vital role in ensuring the smooth operation of the air transport system," Walsh said. "Instead of singling out airlines as the proposal most assuredly does, the Biden Administration should be working toward ensuring a fully funded [U.S. Federal Aviation Administration], a fully staffed controller workforce, and completing the rollout of the decades-delayed FAA NextGen air traffic control modernization program."
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