Revision of the Price Transparency Provisions of the Air Services Regulation

The European Commission will soon present its proposal for the revision of the Regulation 1008/2008 on the operation of Air Services in the Union. This regulation currently includes provisions (Article 23) regarding transparency for prices advertised or communicated to the general public. Article 23 establishes the need to allow consumers “to compare effectively the prices for air services of different airlines”, a provision which was adopted to tackle abusive practices from certain airlines and preserve consumers’ right to comparability through non-discriminatory access to fares. However, more than a decade later, the achievement of this objective is increasingly at risk.

This revision is a unique opportunity to ensure the text’s underlying objective is met: customers must be able to effectively compare the prices for air services of different airlines at the beginning of the booking process.

See our position paper on the topic below.