Policy Focus

New EU rules forbid airlines from charging for wheelchairs

Airlines and airports in the EU will no longer be able to charge extra for providing wheelchairs and other services to disabled and elderly people, under new rules announced by transport chief Antonio Tajani.

The rules will be applied from 26 July, when the EU will enforce all provisions of a regulation agreed in 2006 on the rights of people with “reduced mobility”.

Tajani said on Thursday, “We are talking about freedom – free movement for persons with reduced mobility so they can travel throughout the EU.

“These new rights constitute a major step forward in efforts to create a Europe for all citizens.”

Since 2007, air carriers have been prohibited from refusing to carry a person on the grounds that they were disabled. The rules to be applied from Saturday add the provision that assistance to disabled passengers, provided by airports and air carriers, must be given free of charge.

If an air carrier or airline breaches the rules, member states can impose “effective, proportionate and dissuasive” penalties, as long as they inform the commission.

“Everyone will have to face up to the situation which will prevail,” said Tajani. “I have offered my services to monitor the implementation of this legislation very closely indeed. I am prepared to impose any necessary measure to ensure that that is the case.”

According to the Italian commissioner, around 127 million European citizens with reduced mobility will be affected by the new rules, which also apply to non-EU citizens travelling in and out of Europe.

Member states will also have to create a body to oversee the successes and weaknesses of the new rights, and will have to agree quality standards with airports, airlines and travel agents.

The commission on Thursday also updated its blacklist of airlines banned from flying into the EU “for safety concerns”. The EU removed a ban on the Iranian Mahan airlines, and added that any carriers from Gabon would no longer be allowed to operate in the 27-member bloc.