The European Union is working on ways to help airlines recover from the volcanic ash crisis which shut the skies for six days and left 10 million passengers without flights.
A series of short term relief measures designed to relieve the financial pressure on carriers has been outlined.
It is estimated that cost to the industry could be up to £2.2 billion.
But EU transport commissioner Slim Kallas stressed that air passenger rights provided by EU law remain fully applicable.
“There must be a level playing field so that one company does not get unfair advantage over another by failing to fully meet its obligations,” a statement said.
“The Commission will work closely with national authorities to ensure the regulations are applied in a consistent way.”
Kallas estimated that 10 million passengers were unable to travel due to more than 100,000 flights being cancelled due to the airspace closure.
“Since the beginning, passengers have been our first priority and my message to the industry has been very clear – EU passenger rights must be fully respected,” he said.
“Now, as we are getting back to normal, our focus can shift to relief measures for the industry.
“This is about practical measures to provide relief to the air transport sector so they can weather this crisis. The Commission is also proposing structural changes to ensure we do not face this situation again.”
Options include relaxing state aid rules to allow countries to make loans and guarantees to airlines at market conditions.
But the EU said such support “cannot be used to allow unfair assistance to companies which is not directly related to the crisis”.
The Commission is to recommend that airlines retain take off and landing slots which were left unused during the crisis, waive flight restrictions to help the repatriation of all passengers and defer payments for en-route charges for a defined period of time.
“This is an important measure to provide some relief to immediate cash flow problems,” the statement said.
by Phil Davies
