Satellites and rockets could launch from UK soil in 2022, with spaceports planned for Cornwall, Wales and Scotland
Another barrier to space exploration from UK soil was lifted yesterday with spaceports expected to be in operation from next summer.
Developed with the UK Space Agency and the Civil Aviation Authority, new regulations being laid in Parliament today will mean satellites and rockets can launch from UK soil for the first time – with spaceports planned for Cornwall, Wales and Scotland.
Future satellite launches will improve our access to data and communications, and revolutionise services such as satellite navigation and earth observation – enhancing the way we live, work, travel and interact with our planet.
Space exploration has a long history of inspiring us all to consider our impact on the Earth, and access to space is essential as we tackle global environmental issues such as climate change.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “This is a pivotal moment for our spaceflight ambitions. Since the start of the spaceflight programme in 2017, we have been clear that we want to be the first country to launch into orbit from Europe.
“The laying of these regulations puts us firmly on track to see the first UK launches take place from 2022, unlocking a new era in commercial spaceflight for all 4 corners of our nation.”
The legislation, laid just 2 weeks before the G7 summit in Cornwall, will come into force this summer and will help propel the development of commercial spaceflight technologies, from traditional rockets to high-altitude balloons and spaceplanes.
In time, we will also start to see new and emerging space activity – including sub-orbital space tourism and eventually new transport systems such as hypersonic flight, which will dramatically reduce aviation travel times.
UK spaceport launches will help create new jobs and offer economic benefits to communities across the country, as well as inspiring the next generation of space scientists.
Not only will this support our thriving space sector, it will also attract companies from around the globe to come to, and benefit from, these commercial opportunities.
Science Minister Amanda Solloway said: “Continuing to grow our launch capability will help bring jobs and economic benefits across the UK. The Space Industry Regulations we’ve tabled today will create a supportive, attractive and safe environment for commercial spaceflight.
“Today marks another crucial milestone that will enable the first launches from British soil in 2022 and make UK commercial spaceflight a reality.”
Volodymyr Levykin, CEO of Edinburgh-based Skyrora said: “Today the UK moved a step closer to offering launch capabilities within the next year, signalling its intent to continue as a global power in the space economy.
“These regulations will help to unlock the huge economic opportunity that is launch in the UK and provide a number of options to get cutting-edge technology into orbit and create new commercial industries.
“Britain has a long heritage in rocket engineering, from Black Arrow 50 years ago, to the talent spread across the globe today, working in space organisations and private companies. With the steps taken today and different space ports being developed, the UK has an opportunity to bring much of that talent back home and inspire the next generation. As an Edinburgh-based company, Skyrora is proud to be helping new generations of engineers gain vital, practical experience on launch vehicles to help shape the future of commercial space.
“Our Skyrora XL three-stage rocket is on track to be ready for launch in 2022, along with our space tug – which can play a pivotal role in efforts to clear space debris and we’re proud that we’ll be ready to offer these capabilities from UK soil.”
Impact of Travel Restrictions on UK Airports Revealed
The pandemic’s devastating impact on the UK aviation industry has been laid bare in new research highlighting the reduction in passengers using British airports.
Research by travel website MyBaggage.com revealed the true scale of the massive decline in passengers using our airports during 2020 compared to the previous year.
The figures reveal the scale of Covid’s impact on the aviation industry with airlines estimated to have lost a staggering £20bn last year.
With Governments across the globe limiting air travel there was an overall fall of 75% in passengers using UK airports during 2020 with some hit more severely than others.
Researchers for MyBaggage.com looked at Britain’s 15 busiest airports in 2019 and compared CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) data for 2019 and 2020 to measure the impact of the pandemic.
The biggest fall was seen at London City Airport where passenger numbers plunged 82.3% from 5,122,000 in 2019 to just 908,105 during 2020.
Leeds Bradford Airport saw the second largest reduction in passenger numbers, losing 81.2% of travellers with a drop of 3,992,000 in 2019 to only 751,048 in 2020.
East Midlands Airport experienced the third largest drop in passengers in percentage terms, a loss of 80.7% with 4,674,000 people using the airport in 2019 compared to only 900,832 last year.
The UK’s largest airport, London Heathrow, recently reported a £2bn loss in revenue and the new study shows passenger numbers there were down by 72.7%, going from 80,887,000 to 22,109,550 across the two years.
Gatwick had an even greater passenger reduction in percentage terms with numbers falling 46,575,000 to 10,171,867, a reduction of 78.2%.
In Scotland, Glasgow airport was hit hardest with passenger numbers falling from 8,843,000 in 2019 to only 1,944,981 in 2020 a fall of 78%.
In Northern Ireland, Belfast International saw passenger numbers fall by 72.2% going from 6,278,000 in 2019 to only 1,746,951 during 2020.
While the new research lays bare the devastating economic impact of the pandemic on the UK’s airports, the figures are likely to be welcomed by environmental campaigners with the period seeing a 60% fall in CO2 emissions from aviation.
A spokesman for MyBaggage.com said the research revealed the impact of the pandemic not only on the aviation industry as a whole but also on a regional level around the UK.
He said: “The past 12 months has been nothing short of devastating for the UK aviation industry with a fall in passengers using our airports of around three quarters.
“But not all airports have seen the same impact, some have definitely been harder hit than others with the number of people travelling down by more than 80% in some locations.
“While these numbers are stark they still don’t show the whole picture. Each of these airports is a regional hub employing thousands of workers. With passenger numbers down to this extent, there will have been a dramatic knock-on effect across many industries.
“The tourism industry has of course been massively impacted but the full economic effect can only be guessed at.
“With the vaccine programme now well underway everyone in the travel industry is hoping for a more positive second half to 2021 and for the aviation industry to recover over the coming months and years.”
British Airways and EasyJet are going against EU guidance and refusing to refund unused vouchers for flights cancelled during the pandemic, Which? can reveal.
Some passengers willingly accepted vouchers in place of cash refunds when their flights were cancelled because of coronavirus, believing they were helping the airlines. But others claim they weren’t told they were entitled to cash refunds, or that they were misled into accepting vouchers they didn’t want.
The European Commission issued guidance in May recommending that airlines automatically refund any unused vouchers 14 days after they expire. However, this is only guidance, not a legal requirement.
While Ryanair says its vouchers can be refunded at any time, BA and Easyjet insist that once issued, their vouchers can not be exchanged for cash. That means passengers could be left hundreds of pounds out of pocket if they do not use them by the time they expire.
When flights are cancelled by an EU airline or by an airline flying from an EU airport, passengers are entitled to a cash refund under EU Regulation 261 within seven days of the cancellation. But after the pandemic grounded most flights leaving the UK earlier this year, all of the UK’s biggest airlines failed to meet this legal requirement, and many passengers were given vouchers instead.
At the height of the pandemic earlier in the year, many customers with cancelled flights struggled to contact airlines to ask for their money back. BA customers in particular complained after the airline removed its online refund form from its website and directed people to its overwhelmed customer service line, which played an automated message before hanging up on the passenger.
Some BA passengers have also complained to Which? that they automatically received vouchers for cancelled flights when they thought they’d applied for refunds through the website’s ‘Manage my booking’ page.
Jackie Harbridge says when she called BA to request a refund a recorded message directed her to Manage My Booking on BA’s website, but when she clicked on the refund button, she says she received a voucher for £2,118 for the flights to San Francisco.
She tried to call BA immediately, but struggled to get through. When she eventually got to speak to an agent she was told that since she had requested vouchers the decision could not be reversed.
“I was completely misguided by the instruction in BA’s Manage My Booking, which specifically quoted ‘Refund’ but turned out to be for a voucher, which is completely useless to us,” said Jackie. She and her 83-year-old husband no longer plan to travel so they can’t make use of the vouchers.
BA denies its claims process is misleading, saying that it has issued more than 2.1 million cash refunds. It said it is clear that customers must call to request cash refunds, and insists that they only get a voucher if they fill out a form that clearly states they are requesting a voucher.
While Easyjet passengers can request a refund online when their flight is cancelled, some willingly accepted vouchers to help support the airline.
But some passengers now may not be able to use their vouchers because the airline has cut back on some routes in recent months, and Easyjet has said it will only refund vouchers in “exceptional circumstances as a gesture of goodwill”.
An Easyjet spokesperson said: “For passengers who have chosen a voucher as compensation for their cancelled flight, we would only reverse this and offer a refund in exceptional circumstances as a gesture of goodwill if the customer’s circumstances justify it (eg. A school group no longer able to re-travel).”
A number of Easyjet’s flight routes have yet to restart, and a number of routes passengers were initially booked on have been dropped since vouchers were issued, after the airline pulled out of Southend Airport and dropped a number of routes from Newcastle and Stansted airports. Easyjet’s vouchers are only valid for a year, meaning many passengers may be left with vouchers they cannot use.
BA has dropped 60 per cent of its flights up to the end of this year and also pulled out of the Isle of Man. However, it has extended the validity of its vouchers so they can be used any time up to April 2022.
Additionally, BA and Easyjet both say vouchers are transferable, so passengers can pass them on to family and friends if they are unable to use them.
On top of ignoring guidance on refunds for unused vouchers, BA and EasyJet have also said that they will not be offering refunds for flights that operate as scheduled, meaning many passengers will only have the option of rebooking their flight to a later date if they cannot fly due to England’s latest lockdown. Ryanair has also said it will not offer refunds for flights that are not cancelled while passengers are in lockdown.
Which? believes the Civil Aviation Authority should be doing a better job of making it clear to airlines that they should be following legal guidance on vouchers and refunds, but without powers to issue fines or take swift action, it has struggled to get a grip as airlines have played fast and loose with the rules during the pandemic.
To help restore trust in the travel industry, the government must urgently review the CAA’s powers as part of its aviation recovery plan, to ensure passengers have an aviation regulator with the powers it needs to stand up for their rights.
Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said:“As we head into a winter that is bound to bring more flight cancellations, it’s extremely concerning to see the UK’s biggest airlines disregarding European guidance and letting their passengers down when it comes to their refund rights.
“BA and Easyjet must immediately make it clear that passengers will not face losing their money if they are unable to use a voucher, while all airlines should be offering cash refunds to passengers prevented from travelling by lockdown laws.
“Major airlines have acted shamefully and without fear of consequences during this pandemic – the government must urgently review the CAA’s powers as part of its aviation recovery plan to ensure passengers have a regulator that can effectively stand up for them.”
Some passengers have successfully secured refunds for vouchers they claim they didn’t ask for by going through their airline’s ADR scheme.
The CAA recommends anyone who had a voucher forced upon them, or whose airline is refusing to refund them should do the same – BA uses CEDR, while EasyJet uses CDRL.
Passengers whose airline isn’t a member of an ADR scheme should seek redress through the CAA’s Passenger Advice and Complaints team.
Kim Norris received a cash refund of £1,099 after taking her case of an unwanted voucher to BA’s alternative dispute resolution service, CEDR. It said that, on the balance of probabilities, she had not agreed to accept a voucher.
BA said that Kim applied for a voucher via its website, but it only provided CEDR a screenshot of the type of form it says she filled out, not her specific form. BA acknowledged that Kim had asked twice for a refund, by phone and by email. CEDR found that when BA issued the voucher, it was unlikely that Kim had voluntarily consented to accept it.
In its ruling, CEDR also pointed to a recommendation from the European Commission that if vouchers haven’t been redeemed by the end of their validity period they should be automatically reimbursed within 14 days.
A British Airways spokesperson said: “We do not auto-issue vouchers, they can only be issued when a customer has requested them by filling out the form. Our website is clear that when filling out the form it is to apply for vouchers.
“Customers are always entitled to a cash refund if their flight has been cancelled, and must call us to do this, which is clearly displayed on our website. Customers have up to a year after their flight was due to operate to get in touch with us for a cash refund – and we have processed over 2.1 million cash refunds to date.
“If a customer uses a voucher to make a new booking which is then subsequently cancelled by us, they would be entitled to choose either a cash refund (if the original booking was paid for in cash), or a voucher in a similar way as before.”
Some airlines are still failing to refund passengers
Ryanair, Virgin Atlantic and Tui are failing to refund passengers in agreed timeframes, breaching recent commitments to the regulator that they would speed up their refund process.
Which? has seen evidence that the airlines are reneging on promises they made to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) about how they would improve their refund processes, including from some passengers who have been left out of pocket since March.
The findings come after the CAA reviewed airlines’ behaviour and identified several carriers that weren’t paying refunds ‘sufficiently quickly’, but opted not to take enforcement action after receiving commitments from the airlines to improve their performance.
However, Which? found that Ryanair, Tui and Virgin – all identified by the CAA as not processing refunds fast enough – are falling short of the promises they made to the regulator, prompting concerns from Which? that the regulator’s enforcement powers may not be fit for purpose.
The CAA told Ryanair it wasn’t satisfied that it was taking 10 weeks or longer to process refunds, and that airlines offering vouchers should also be offering passengers the choice of a cash refund. Following the regulator’s review, Ryanair published a commitment on its website that all refund requests up to the end of May would be cleared by 31 July.
But Which? has heard from Ryanair passengers who are still waiting for refunds from March, and who are still trying to get cash refunds after they were initially sent vouchers despite requesting cash refunds.
Virgin Atlantic told the CAA its maximum waiting time for refunds is 120 days, but some passengers have been trying to get refunds from the airline for longer than four months.
The consumer champion heard from two passengers who have been waiting over 130 days for refunds for flights that were cancelled in March.
Tui was reprimanded by the CAA for issuing vouchers and then making customers wait a further 28 days before they could apply for their money back. Tui told the CAA that “on average, cash refunds will be processed within 14 days”.
However, despite telling the regulator it is no longer automatically issuing vouchers, Tui still states on its website that customers must wait for a voucher before they can claim a cash refund.
Which? has heard from a passenger who is yet to even receive the voucher that she needs to claim her refund – or received any other communication from Tui – after her flight was cancelled in April.
Following its review, the CAA said a number of airlines have committed to speeding up the time it is taking to process refunds without requiring enforcement action, and that it would continue to monitor those airlines and continue to push for further improvements.
It said it would consider if enforcement action was appropriate if airlines failed to meet their commitments. However, it also highlighted that its enforcement powers are not well suited to swift action, and that it can take a considerable period of time for a case to come before the courts.
Which? is concerned that if airlines are continually allowed to openly break the law on refunds through this crisis, it will set a precedent that sees airlines continue to treat passengers unfairly without fear of consequence or sanctions.
Airlines have repeatedly been given the benefit of the doubt, but some have treated the regulator’s efforts to secure voluntary commitments with indifference. It is clear that more needs to be done to give the CAA the clout to effectively hold airlines to account.
Which? is calling for the government to enhance the CAA’s existing powers to allow it to more easily take swift and meaningful action against airlines that have repeatedly been exposed for disregarding the law and their passengers over the course of the pandemic.
The consumer champion believes this should be the first of a series of reforms to the travel industry, to help ensure the future of international travel from the UK and to help restore consumer trust in the sector.
Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said:“Time after time, Which? has exposed airlines breaking the law on refunds for cancelled flights due to the pandemic and treating their passengers unfairly, and we’re concerned that they now feel empowered to do as they please without fear of punishment.
“Passengers must be able to rely on a regulator that has effective powers to protect their rights – especially at a time of unprecedented turmoil. The government needs to step up and ensure the CAA has the tools it needs to hold airlines to account, or risk consumer trust in the travel industry being damaged beyond repair.”
Kirsty Ness requested a cash refund from Ryanair immediately after her flights were cancelled in late March, but on 20 April she received a voucher instead.
Kirsty has called Ryanair several times to cash in the voucher, but she has yet to receive her refund.
Palliative care nurse Jeanette Howard was sent a voucher for her Ryanair flights to Alicante that were cancelled on 20 March, even though she had applied for a cash refund.
She says she’s called the airline ‘on a daily basis’ since late April to ask to exchange the voucher for cash, but she’s still waiting for her money back.
Ryanair did not respond to Which?’s request for a comment.
Jeff Palmer and his wife were due to fly with Virgin Atlantic to Vegas on 9 April. He first requested a refund from Virgin on 31 March after they cancelled his flights, and told Which? he has tried ‘every method under the sun’ to contact them.
He received emails telling him it would be 90 days, then 50, then another 14, before receiving a refund for his flight but not his wife’s – despite it being part of the same booking. He told Which? he has contacted them several times since, and still no sign of a refund for her ticket.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said:“The huge volume of refund requests we have received, combined with the constraints on our teams and systems during the pandemic, has meant that refunds have been taking longer than usual to process, and we sincerely apologise for this.
“Since April, we have been focussed on making improvements wherever possible. We’ve boosted the size of the team dedicated to processing refunds five-fold, with over 200 people now directly involved. This has increased our capacity to process a greater number of refunds, more quickly and we continue to minimise the wait time for existing refund requests.
“Thanks to the progress made, we are steadily reducing the maximum processing time for each new Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays cash refund. For customers requesting a refund in August, we expect the maximum processing time to be 80 days, from the date the refund is requested. For those requesting a refund in September, we expect it to take a maximum of 60 days, and then reduce to 30 days for refunds requested in October, before returning to normal levels.
“Up until recently we have been committed to processing existing refunds within a maximum of 120 days, from the date the refund is requested, and we inform each customer when this is done by email. The timeframe begins from the date the refund is requested and acknowledged by a customer agent, not the date the flight is cancelled.
“We are aware that there are a portion of Virgin Atlantic bookings with pending refund requests which were incorrectly inputted and unfortunately now exceed 120 days for processing. This was an administration error and as soon as this was identified we urgently investigated. We are resolving this as a priority and any customers affected will have their refund processed as soon as possible.”
Kath Lowe’s Tui flight from Manchester to Tenerife was cancelled on 29 April, but she hasn’t received a voucher – or any other communication – from Tui and until she does she can’t claim a refund.
She says she’s tried calling Tui on many occasions but she’s never managed to get through to its call centre.
A Tui spokesperson said:“Customers with cancelled flight only bookings which were due to depart before 11 July were issued refund credit vouchers, and could then apply for a cash refund via our online form. These refunds were processed within 28 days.
“Customers with cancelled flight only bookings which were due to depart from 11 July onwards will automatically receive cash refunds. These refunds will be processed within 14 days.
“We’re really sorry to any customers who may have experienced delays in receiving their refund.”
Tui has also confirmed a voucher was sent to the case study in May but speculated it may have been lost in junk mail. They’ve now requested for this to be cancelled and a refund to be issued.
The CAA said:“We will review any supplementary evidence provided to us by Which? – beyond the 12,000 submitted to us during the review – but we will need to see individual examples in order to consider what further action is needed with the airlines.
“Throughout our review, alongside information received from airlines, we also used information from consumers and consumer groups, as well as mystery shopping from our consumer protection team, to determine what commitments were needed from airlines to improve performance.
“If we had not received such commitments during our review, then our next step would be to consider formal enforcement action. However, this enforcement process can take a significant period of time without providing short-term results for consumers. For example, the enforcement action we commenced against Ryanair in 2018 is not expected to come to court until at least 2021.
“While our initial review has finished, we have been clear that we will continue to monitor performance and should any airline fall short of the commitments they have made to us, we will take further action as required.”
But Which? says the CAA is failing the consumers it is supposed to protect
Review considered actions by airlines during the coronavirus pandemic
Civil Aviation Authority action has led to airlines making commitments to improve performance without requiring formal enforcement action
Quality of service and performance from most airlines has improved in response to bilateral engagement and the review, leading to refunds now being paid out faster
Civil Aviation Authority warns other European and international airlines that the consumers right to a refund must be protected
The UK Civil Aviation Authority has been reviewing the refund policies and performance of UK airlines and three of the largest international operators to the UK. A further five international airlines were included due to the level of consumer feedback and concerns that refunds were not being paid during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Civil Aviation Authority review is based on its own investigations, as well as information provided to us by consumers across email and social media, as well as through consumer bodies including the Competition and Markets Authority, the Northern Ireland Consumer Council and Which?.
At the start of the review, some airlines were not paying refunds, with others facing potential backlogs of numerous months.
We investigated airlines’ policies and practices to establish whether they were placing barriers in the way of consumers requesting refunds, through unclear messaging, difficult to navigate customer services and under-resourced call centres.
While we recognise that the coronavirus pandemic was an unprecedented situation for the aviation industry, our consumer team has worked to protect consumer rights and to influence airlines to change their processes and practices in order to improve performance in providing refunds.
The Civil Aviation Authority now has evidence that shows that since it launched its review, and its wide-ranging engagement programme with airlines, all UK airlines are now paying refunds. Call centre wait times have reduced, in some cases significantly, and customer service messaging has provided greater clarity on consumers’ rights to a refund for cancelled flights.
Our review found that a number of airlines were not performing adequately. We have gained immediate commitments from these airlines to improve their performance and the time taken to provide refunds to consumers, without requiring enforcement action.
This is the most immediate way of providing benefits to consumers as enforcement processes can take a considerable amount of time to complete given the potential for legal proceedings. We have previously called for stronger, more immediate, powers to act to protect consumer rights.
Other European airlines were not initially within the scope of our review due to discussions taking place between National Enforcement Bodies, European governments and the EU Commission. Engaging with these other EU airlines at that point would have potentially cut across these other discussions.
However, we have today written to a further 30 major European and international airlines that operate services to and from the UK to highlight the results of our review, and to warn them not to deny consumers their right to a refund. We will not hesitate to take further action against any airlines where necessary.
Commenting on the review, Richard Moriarty, Chief Executive of the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: “The airlines we have reviewed have responded by significantly enhancing their performance, reducing their backlogs, and improving their processing speeds in the interests of consumers.
“Although we have taken into account the serious operational challenges many airlines have faced, we have been clear that customers cannot be let down, and that airlines must pay refunds as soon as possible.
“There is still work to do. We have required commitments from airlines as they continue the job of paying customer refunds. Should any airline fall short of the commitments they have made, we will not hesitate to take any further action where required.”
Summary statements for each airline are available on CAA website at the link below:
Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said:“The regulator is failing the consumers it is supposed to protect. The reality is that people are still owed millions of pounds in refunds, are facing financial and emotional turmoil, and continue to be fobbed off by a number of airlines who have been brazenly breaking the law for months.
“These airlines will now feel they can continue to behave terribly having faced no penalty or sanction.
“It is obvious that the CAA does not have the right tools to take effective action against airlines that show disregard towards passengers and the law, but more worryingly, it’s not clear the regulator has the appetite to use them.
“The government must use this opportunity to bring in much-needed reforms, including giving regulators greater powers to take swift and meaningful action, but consumers need assurances that these will actually be used against lawbreaking companies.”
The UK Civil Aviation Authority is reviewing the refund policies of all UK airlines, as well as a number of international airlines that operate flights to and from the UK. The review began in May and is considering how airlines are handling refunds for flight-only bookings during the coronavirus pandemic.
We have published guidance and advice for both industry and consumers on this important issue throughout the COVID crisis. We support airlines offering vouchers and rebooking alternatives where it makes sense for the consumer, but we have reiterated to airlines that they must provide cash refunds to passengers who request this where a flight has been cancelled.
We do not expect airlines to systematically deny consumers their right to a refund, and our review is considering whether any further action needs to be taken to protect consumer rights.
Airline Performance
Of the eighteen airlines contacted, all have engaged with us on the issues that we have raised, and all have confirmed to us that they are now paying refunds. We have grouped airlines by performance in three categories:
1. Acceptable performance
2. Requiring transparency improvements
3. Requiring processing time improvements
Acceptable performance
Through our review we have identified a selection of airlines that are paying refunds quickly and that do not have a sizeable backlog of refund requests. While regulations state that refunds should be paid within seven days of the request, we understand that there are operational challenges that airlines are facing in the current circumstances that make this very challenging to meet.
We will continue to monitor the performance of these airlines, but as things stand we do not expect further work to be required unless there is a material change in performance.
Requiring transparency improvements
Our review has identified a second group that, based on passenger complaints, did not appear to be providing refunds at all. Having engaged with these airlines, the Civil Aviation Authority can now confirm that these airlines are all paying refunds.
A number of airlines have now introduced new systems for processing refunds. More work remains to be done by this group of airlines to make it clear to passengers that they are entitled to a refund and show that there is a straightforward process for claiming it.
We will allow these airlines a short period to make the necessary improvements before we reach a definitive view on their performance.
Requiring processing time improvements
Our review has identified a third group of airlines which have substantial backlogs of refund claims and which, in our view, are taking too long to process refunds.
This group includes some major carriers with large backlogs of refund requests extending to many months. The Civil Aviation Authority has asked these airlines to provide commitments that they will speed up refund processing timescales.
We have received responses from a number of airlines agreeing to this request. We will assess the suitability of these commitments and, should we accept them, we will monitor the airlines’ performance against them. If performance does not improve in line with the commitments, the Civil Aviation Authority will not hesitate to take enforcement action.
Conclusion
This is the first update the Civil Aviation Authority has provided on its review of airline refund practices. We intend to publish a further, more detailed update later this month.
Only a minority group of airlines have been consistently providing consumers with refunds in an acceptable timeframe, however we have noted a marked improvement across most airlines since our review commenced. We expect this direction of travel to be maintained.
Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said:“This update from the regulator confirms what we have been highlighting to it for months – that airlines are continuing to disregard the law and withhold huge sums of money from their passengers during a time that has placed incredible stress on people’s financial and emotional wellbeing.
“The time for monitoring and performance reviews has long passed. Airlines have been breaking the law on refunds for months, and to delay action for any longer goes against the regulator’s claims to be on the side of consumers.
“We need to see urgent enforcement action to hold airlines to account, set a higher standard for the months ahead, and demonstrate that there are real consequences to breaking the law on refunds.”
Teachers and parents in Scotland are today being advised to check that any school trips involving air travel, booked for the coming academic year, are fully protected by the ATOL scheme. The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which runs ATOL, is making the call as schools start organising class trips for the coming months.Continue reading School trips? Book ATOL protection or parents could be out of pocket
Edinburgh Airport has resubmitted a proposal to change flight paths to industry regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority. A controversial previous proposal was rejected by the CAA following public objections but the Airport say their latest submission follows further consultation and takes on board public concerns.Continue reading Edinburgh Airport resubmits flight path change application
