Airlines to be fined for delays

Domestic and foreign airlines will be asked to pay fines for flight delays under the Consumer Protection Chart (CPC), business daily Al-Eqtisadiah reported yesterday. It quoted Khaled Al-Khaibari, the official spokesman of the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA), for its report.
“Consumers will be compensated for the delay of their flights. The airlines will have to pay the compensation money decided by GACA to the consumer within a month. If they fail to do so within the specified time, they will have to pay the consumer SR 1,500 for each single day after that,” he said. Al-Khaibari said GACA’s consumer protection department received an average of four to six complaints every day from consumers that sue domestic and foreign airlines for delays, loss of baggage and other violations. “At present, we have more than a thousand complaints under consideration,” he added.
Khaibari said GACA was planning to establish a special site on the Internet for the consumer protection department to receive complaints and added that the site would be linked to the sites of the airlines for their interaction.
He said under the CPC, passengers should be provided with free accommodation and meals in case of flight delay. He asked the airlines to cut down on the number of canceled flights and inform passengers about any cancellation as early as possible.