Compensation ruling is no 'passenger boon', say airline bosses
TTG Staff
Airline bosses have raised concerns about the impact of the Supreme Court decision to throw out appeals by Jet2.com and Thomson Airways over flight compensation.
Last week Britain’s highest court rejected applications by both companies, meaning that decisions against them in the Court of Appeal stand.
Speaking on stage at WTM, Flybe’s chief commercial officer Paul Simmons insisted the ruling was unfair and that the additional costs airlines incurred could be passed on to consumers.
“I think like everyone - we have to follow the law and adhere to what’s been decided. But it patently doesn’t appear to be very fair, particularly for a regional airline like ourselves where a lot of the time we are competing against surface transport, which doesn’t have the same issues,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s the passenger boon that the consumer journalists are making it out to be, because eventually it will get passed on [back to the customer].”
"I don’t think it’s the passenger boon consumer journalists are making it out to be. Eventually it will get passed on"
Peter Bellew, director of flight operations at Ryanair, agreed, admitting that the no-frills carrier would just have to “get on with it”
He added: “I sometimes think the way that these things are dealt with, you can sometimes miss the devil in the detail. It’s going to be a challenge.”
Bellew and Simmons were joined on the panel by Chris Browne, chief operating officer of Aviation Tui Leisure who spoke about her time at the business.
She said the upcoming merger between Tui Travel and its German majority shareholder would mainly be felt at a corporate level.
“It’s had no impact on the UK operation whatsoever, it’s simplistically two head offices coming together… and it’s a great opportunity for us.”
Meanwhile Browne insisted that the Thomson name would remain but hinted that there could be changes to the company’s airline offering.
“[We have] no plans to change that [the name] whatsoever”, she said. “But there is a lot that we can change. Let’s be honest - if you were start an operation today you wouldn’t start with five different airlines over Europe.”
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