The Civil Aviation Authority runs a consumer protection scheme “dictated by Europe” and unsuited to the UK industry, according to the authority’s chairman.
CAA chair Dame Deirdre Hutton said a scheme devised by the authority solely for the UK would differ from the current Atol regime and the Air Travel Trust (ATT) that underpins it.
She told an aviation law conference in London: “If we were to devise s scheme just for the UK, it would not be the Air Travel Trust and not run by the CAA.”
Hutton said the shape of the existing scheme “is dictated by the EU”. She added: “It does not always produce the best outcomes.”
The Department for Transport is finalising reforms to the Atol scheme that have drawn sharp criticism from some sectors of the travel industry.
Hutton said the CAA had sought to increase its influence in Europe in recognition of the fact that the concerns of the European Commission (EC) and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) often do not tally with views in the UK.
She said: “We are putting a huge amount of effort into increasing our influence in Europe.”
Referring to European regulations on air passenger rights, currently the subject of an EC review, Hutton said: “The European Parliament is influenced by the experience of MEPs getting to and from the Parliament. That is a fact. If we re-open the legislation, the danger is you will get something tougher.”
Lawyer Akhil Shah QC, of Fountain Court chambers, said: “The industry should be lobbying hard and providing objecting evidence to the EC about why the existing [passenger rights] regulation is disproportionate [in effect].”
EC Regulation 261 on passengers’ rights compelled airlines to pay out for disruption to flights caused by volcanic ash last year.
The EC is considering removing the obligation to care for passengers in the event of another ash cloud, but has signalled it intends to strengthen passengers’ rights in other areas.
Hutton and Shah were speaking at the Butterworths Aviation Law and Policy Conference in London.