ABTA, the British travel agency/tour operator trade group, this week welcomed news from the European Union’s Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection John Dalli that the Commission is working on ways to protect travelers in the event of the collapse of an airline, when the air ticket has been purchased separately outside of any packaged holiday.

The Commission is looking into ways to update the EU’s regulations on vacation packages that date to the early 1990s – before the advent of the big online travel marketers.

In welcoming Dalli’s comments on protecting airline passengers, ABTA Chief Executive Mark Tanzer said in a statement:

“We are encouraged that the EU has taken notice of the submissions ABTA made through the consultation process of the review of the Package Travel Directive ….

“Particularly welcome is the concern raised by both the Commission and the [members of the European Parliament] for airline insolvency to be covered by European law. For too long, airlines have been allowed to trade without protecting the monies they take from consumers in advance of travel. This puts consumers at risk of financial loss and places tour operators at a significant competitive disadvantage. The planned extension of the scope of the directive has long been our priority.”

ABTA, Tanzer continued, will be working to ensure that a new European law will encompass the changes that have taken place in the market and that they also take into account future technological and trading developments that affect the travel market.

Dalli noted that the compensation and repatriation of affected passengers is obligatory in the case of package holidays under the current regulations, but passengers who just have an air ticket are left high and dry, as demonstrated by the thousands of holidaymakers stuck in airports at the time of the collapse of Slovakia-based airline Sky Europe in September 2009.

Tanzer said that he and ABTA’s Head of Public Affairs Luke Pollard will be going to Brussels next week to continue lobbying for the industry’s interests on this issue, which, he noted in his statement, “will have a very significant impact on our members’ business and the rights of the traveling public.”

According to Dalli, the Commission’s proposals will be ready before the end of the year.