The European Parliament adopted yesterday a Regulation on the publication of all inclusive air fares and on non-discriminatory access to air fares throughout the EU.

ECTAA and GEBTA have been calling for years for effective legislation on inclusive air fares. The new Regulation addresses this request by ensuring indication at all time of the final price of air tickets, including unavoidable and foreseeable taxes, fees, charges and surcharges. 

The Regulation also prohibits discriminations in access to fares based on the place of residence of the passenger or the place of establishment of the travel agent. This provision will help travel agents to overcome the current restrictions in access to fares and to make their customers benefit from the best fares. ECTAA and GEBTA are however in favour of abolishing further discriminations in access to fares, notably based on the distribution channel. The European Institutions have an opportunity to deal with this issue in the current revision of the European legislation on computerised reservation systems.

Finally, the Regulation strengthens the monitoring of European airlines’ finances. ECTAA and GEBTA strongly supported the initial position of the European Parliament to establish in addition a system to protect passengers in case of airline failure. However this was not retained in the final text. ECTAA and GEBTA therefore call on the European Commission to initiate specific legislation on this issue, which is getting even more important with the alarming fuel prices affecting airlines’ costs.

Date of publication: 10 July 2008