Advisory committee calling for airline passenger protection

Passengers are not being adequately protected against financial loss that may result from airline bankruptcies, claims an industry watchdog group.

With a number of high-profile airline companies going under in the last several months, the Air Travel Insolvency Protection Advisory Committee (Atipac) is stressing that more needs to be done to protect passengers.

The advocacy group, which advises the Civil Aviation Authority, has singled out the financial failure of business class carriers Eos, MAXjet and Silverjet, in way of example.

In its recently-released annual report it noted that the current upheaval and instability in the aviation sector necessitates that measures be put in place that make it possible for passengers to claim for “irredeemable” airfares.

The chairman of Atipac, John Cox, expressed his “significant concern” regarding the lack of protection for passengers who make their bookings directly with an airline.

“Airlines are not providing suitable protection and advice for their passengers,” he added. “Information about financial protection is negligible and - in the event of an airline failing - passengers often have no choice but to pay their own repatriation costs.”

Last week, in a frank assessment of the state of the airline industry, the chief executive of British Airways, Willie Walsh, told reporters that “quite a lot of weak carriers … will not survive”.

www.caa.co.uk/atipac