The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) is to meet with the operators of low-cost carriers tomorrow to address a rising number of customer complaints over refund policies and related issues.
The CAA recorded 980 disputes between the airlines and passengers from January to October, marking a 30 percent year-on-year increase.
Among them, 480 involved budget airlines, which is about double the number recorded over the same period last year.
About 60 percent of the disputes involving low-cost carriers were related to requests for refunds, and about 30 percent related to flight cancellations and delays. The remaining 10 percent were customer-service complaints related to missing luggage or other issues.
CAA Air Transport Division director Han Chen-hua (韓振華) said an increase of budget airlines in the nation contributed to an increase in the number of complaints.
There are 19 low-cost carriers in the nation, up from 16 budget airlines last year.
Han said that international events earlier this year have also caused the number of disputes to rise, including an outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in South Korea and the Aug. 17 Bangkok bombing.
He said some passengers asked to cancel their flights because of such events, with disputes arising when they were told they could not request refunds, or would have to pay processing fees to do so.
Apart from asking the carriers to disclose details about their refund policies in the meeting tomorrow, Han said the CAA would also request carriers to establish expedient procedures to handle all possible contingencies.
Based on the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法), the CAA can ask low-cost carriers to address disputes if the airlines are liable for causing them. Should any carrier refuse to address them, the CAA can temporarily suspend partial or entire operations.
So far, no low-cost carriers have committed a breach that warrants such administrative discipline, Han said.
CAA statistics showed the 19 budget airlines offer flights on a total of 25 international routes, with the average occupancy rate being about 78 percent. Jointly, their market share is set to exceed 10 percent this year.
Some budget airlines plan to launch flights to new destinations before the end of the year, including Tigerair Taiwan’s service to Zhangjiajie, China, and V Air’s service to Nagoya, Japan.
Jetstar Japan is to launch flights to Osaka and Nagoya.
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