Airline passengers will soon receive almost double the amount of compensation from European airlines for cancelled or overbooked flights after EU transport ministers agreed a new law yesterday.
Ireland voted in favour of the bill, which would mean payouts of up to €600 for passengers on flights over 3,500km, €400 for flights between 1,500km and 3,500km and €250 for shorter trips.
Current levels of compensation, set in 1991, are €150 for short flights and €300 for distances up to 3,500km.
The Minister of State for Transport, Dr Jim Mc Daid, who represented Ireland at yesterday's meeting of the Transport Council, denied it would have a detrimental effect on the Irish airlines, saying that the new law would be "likely to balance the concerns of consumers and airlines".
A spokesman for Aer Lingus said it "broadly welcomed" the new levels of passenger compensation and in fact supported the review of the 1991 levels.
"We try to minimise delays anyway because punctuality is an important issue for us and our customers," he said.
The UK voted against the deal as it feared the increased levels of passenger compensation would hit the low-fare airlines such as Ryanair and Easyjet.
Dr McDaid told The Irish Times he had pointed out that low-cost airlines were also consumer-friendly and should not be penalised, adding that Britain then took up this point and "ran with it".
The agreed minimum compensation can be worth several times the overall cost of a no-frills air ticket.
Delays caused by air traffic controllers were excluded from the bill.
The compensation levels are likely to become legally binding on all airlines in the EU once the European Parliament passes the bill.
Meanwhile, EU governments also agreed on a "single European sky" from 2005 to harmonise air-traffic control systems in an effort to cut airline delays across Europe.
Many countries were concerned that the new system might interfere with military neutrality or military operations.
Ireland and Austria issued formal statements saying the agreement did not alter their military neutrality.