Dupuis accuses de Palacio of not taking sufficient account of consumer interests

13/01/2000 (Agence Europe)

In an answer to a written question from Belgian Radical Olivier Dupuis, member of the Bonino List in Italy, Commissioner Loyola de Palacio states that the European Commission does not envisage intervening in airline companies regarding the obligation placed on European consumers travelling economy class to buy return tickets.

Mr. Dupuis accuses Mrs. de Palacio of not having really grasped the changes that have occurred in a forever-changing sector. He recalls that, in the United States, the sale of "single" tickets at a price equivalent to half a "return" ticket has become current practice without preventing the air transport sector from prospering. And wonders: "Does Commissioner de Palacio want, as no doubt do European airline companies in their heart of hearts, inheritors and still impregnated with 5 or 6 decades of undisputed monopolies, to oblige these millions of European users who travel frequently, for professional reasons or others, from one European city to another, without going back through their point of departure, to continue to sacrifice their "return" ticket or does she want to oblige them to buy business class tickets?"