The Aviation White Paper is intended to shake up the aviation industry and ensure fairer treatment of customers by Australian Airlines. Image source: Simon_sees, via Wikimedia Commons
Australian airlines will now have to provide cash refunds for cancelled or unreasonably delayed flights, as part of the Aviation White Paper.
The Aviation White Paper is a planned rollout of policy changes and initiatives by the Australian Government, including introducing a new Charter of Rights for passengers.
The Charter of Rights will entitle customers of airlines to refunds for flights that are disrupted, cancelled, or delayed for an unreasonable amount of time.
Transport Minister Catherine King stated that airlines often were unfair in how they dealt with Australians.
“The bottom line is if people don’t get the service that they are expecting, then customers deserve to get their money back or they deserve to get an equivalent service”, said King.
“And that’s really not what’s been happening when it comes to the consumer space.”
The rights charter will be managed by a new oversight body, designed to resolve disputes, report on airline conduct, and direct airlines and airports to deal fairly with customers when things go awry.
Under the new scheme, airlines will have to “show cause” when reporting a reason for a flight’s delay or cancellation and be obliged to provide support to consumers for making alternative travel arrangements.
Qantas has stated previously that introducing a compensation scheme would force it to raise air fares.
Qantas and its competing airline Virgin have been called an “aviation duopoly” and have been under scrutiny for various behaviours, including selling tickets to cancelled flights, hoarding time slots, and Qantas’s illegal sackings.
The airline industry in Australia has been under increased consideration from the government, with two regional airlines—Rex and Bonza— both collapsing this year.
The Aviation White Paper is currently being championed by the government as a solution for the current issues. As well as customer compensation, the policies will include noise management of aircraft and new minimum standards of accessibility for airlines.
Other policies will target the aviation sector’s contribution to net zero emissions, supporting regional aviation, improving air travel for passengers, and will consider options surrounding drone legislation.
The scheme is expected to be operational by 2026 and functions as the Australian Government’s vision of the aviation sector until 2050.
