Penalties can reach up to BGN 5,000 per complaint left uncommented by airlines
Director General ‘Civil Aviation Administration’ (CAA) will step up scrutiny of airlines and whether they respond to complaints from their passengers. Penalties can reach up to BGN 5,000 and will be imposed under the Civil Aviation Act (Article 143, paragraph 6). This became clear during a meeting of Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Anna Natova, Deputy Minister of Tourism Irena Georgieva, Director General of the CAA Anelia Marinova and representatives of the Association of Tour Operators and Travel Agents ‘United Future for Tourism’ (UFT). The meeting is in connection with the signals submitted a few days ago by the Association about cancelled flights.
Since the beginning of the year until 1 August, the number of reports received by the CAA from dissatisfied passengers is over 690. ‘We need to significantly increase control because the huge number of reports shows that we are no longer talking about occasional cases, but violations are becoming a trend,’ said the Director General of the CAA Anelia Marinova.
Deputy Minister Anna Natova commented that the Ministry of Transport and Communications is in contact with the Bulgarian Embassy in Hungary because of the incidents with cancelled flights of the Hungarian Wizz Air to Southern Italy, and in the coming days a meeting with the management of the airline is to take place.
‘The state must stand firmly behind the rights of tourists so that such bad practices can be minimised. Flights are still the preferred way for Bulgarian tourists to travel to more distant destinations,’ Deputy Tourism Minister Irena Georgieva said.
