Stockmann (PSE). – (DE) One thousand and fifty passengers are denied boarding in Europe every year despite having a valid ticket in their pockets. Flight cancellations and delays are also increasing, especially in the tourist season. That is not in the consumer’s interests. My group therefore welcomes the regulation. It will give us a uniform European legal framework, probably from 2005. I am sure we have succeeded in achieving a fair balance between the interests of consumers and carriers. The excessive level of compensation sought by the Commission has been cut back to a realistic amount. The reference to extraordinary circumstances reduces carriers’ responsibility to a reasonable level. I therefore anticipate that the Council will follow Parliament in agreeing to the outcome of conciliation.

This represents an advance over the existing arrangements because we now have a list of benefits to which passengers are legally entitled, not just in cases of overbooking as before, but also when flights are cancelled or delayed. At the heart of the improvement are the compensation payments, which are twice as high as was hitherto the norm in Europe under the voluntary arrangements. For example, if I get to Tegel before finding out that my flight from Berlin to Mallorca has been cancelled, I not only get my ticket replaced, but I also get EUR 400 compensation. I get the same amount if I am left behind because of overbooking. This also places a measure of pressure on airlines to be more sensitive in their use of the overbooking system, necessary as it is. Of course, we also hope that greater efforts will be made to reduce delays and the occasional abusive cancellation of flights when they are not quite full.

One side effect of the regulation will be to reduce the gap in the terms of competition between budget and traditional airlines. We are now setting standards for passenger rights in aviation which sooner or later ought to apply for other modes of transport as well.