On September 18, the Belgian airline ”Air Belgium” suddenly announced that it would cease all passenger flights from October 3.
Air Belgium is thus approximately the 150th airline to leave consumers in the lurch since 2017.
This is in stark contrast to the protection offered to travellers by travel companies. Since 1990, the European Package Travel Directive has required them to protect their travellers from financial insolvency (and therefore bankruptcy). The eight guarantee funds, members of EGFATT, take this protection very seriously and help travellers all year round, either by refunding lost amounts or by assisting (or repatriating) them at their destination.
It is not logical for the European Commission to distinguish between travellers who only have a flight ticket (not protected) and those who have booked a package holiday (protected). A package holiday is usually a combination of flights and accommodation.
But the world is even more upside down: it is actually the case that tour operators have to pay for the bankruptcy (or financial problems) of an airline! In the case of Air Belgium, they have to buy new airline tickets for their passengers, which are often much more expensive, they have to propose more difficult travel plans (only Air Belgium flew directly from Brussels), or they may even be forced to cancel the trip due to force majeure. In the latter case, they have to refund the passengers within 14 days, without the assurance that they will be reimbursed by Air Belgium. In addition to the purely financial costs, they also suffer additional losses due to the extra work required to arrange the above for their passengers, the latter however with great dedication and entirely for the benefit of their passengers.
The guarantee funds that protect these travel companies against financial insolvency seriously question the possible impact on their business of past and future airline bankruptcies. EGFATT, together with ECTAA and other organisations, has for many years called on the airline industry to set up its own guarantee fund or take some worthwhile initiative in this regard. EGFATT now notes that the lack of any initiative at European Union level to protect passengers and tour operators against airline bankruptcies could have a negative effect on the solvency of tour operators, who are in fact strictly regulated and financially supervised (due to EU rules).
