After years of calling for reform, airlines are now afraid of their potential outcome. They first asked policymakers to stop negotiating and run an impact assessment, and in recent weeks, they stressed that no deal is better than a bad deal.
Current regulation “already adds about €8 extra to the ticket of every passenger,” said the three leading airline lobbies. “The compromise on the table today will drive up costs by around a third without actually addressing the real reasons for most delays,” they added, referring to a draft deal reported by POLITICO.
Consumer organizations and claims agencies, which take a cut of successful compensation claims, have also been fighting any reform proposal they believe would weaken current rights.
Despite the gap between the two sides, they have little time to reach a deal under the so-called conciliation process. Under that, each side gets an equal number of negotiators and a six-week deadline (extendable by two weeks) to reach an agreement. If that doesn’t happen, the legislative process is deemed a failure.
The formal deadline for the process is June 15, but due to technical issues related to the legal translation of the text, people involved in the negotiations told POLITICO that Tuesday is the real deadline to reach a deal.