What changed between the adopted text of 21 Jan 2026 and the adopted text of 7 Jul 2026

Removed:(b) their flight is cancelled, delayed or rescheduled;

Removed:(c) they miss a connecting flight;

Removed:(d) they are upgraded or downgraded.’;

Removed:(2) Article 2 is amended as follows:

Removed:(a) points (b) to (f) are replaced by the following:

Removed:‘(b) “operating air carrier” means an air carrier that performs or intends to perform a flight under an air transport contract with a passenger or on behalf of another person, legal or natural, having a contract with that passenger, including an air carrier that uses the aircraft of another air carrier, with or without crew of that other air carrier, for the performance of its flights;

Removed:(c) “Union air carrier” means an air carrier with a valid operating licence granted by a Member State in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council*;

Removed:(ca) "airport managing body" means a body which, in conjunction with other activities or not as the case may be, has as its objective under national laws, regulations or contracts the administration and management of the airport or airport network infrastructures and the coordination and control of the activities of the different operators present in the airports or airport network concerned; [Am. 56]

Removed:(d) “organiser” means a person within the meaning of Article 3, point (8), of Directive (EU) 2015/2302 of the European Parliament and of the Council**;

Removed:(e) “package” means a combination of travel services as defined in Article 3, point (2), of Directive (EU) 2015/2302;

Removed:(f) “ticket” means valid evidence, regardless of its form, of an air transport contract;

Removed:(fa) “cost of the air ticket” means final price to be paid at the end of the reservation process that includes the air fare and all applicable taxes, charges, surcharges and fees paid for all optional and non-optional services included in the ticket, excluding intermediation fees, regardless whether those extras and fees have been paid together with the fares for the transport service or separately at a later stage; [Am. 57]

Removed:(fb) "reservation" means the fact that the passenger has a ticket, or other proof, which indicates that the reservation has been accepted and registered by the air carrier or organiser; [Am. 58]

Removed:________________

Removed:* Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 September 2008 on common rules for the operation of air services in the Community (OJ L 293, 31.10.2008, p. 3, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2008/1008/oj).

Removed:** Directive (EU) 2015/2302 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on package travel and linked travel arrangements, amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 and Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 90/314/EEC (OJ L 326, 11.12.2015, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2015/2302/oj).’;

Removed:(b) point (g) is deleted; [Am. 59]

Removed:(c) points (h) to (l) are replaced by the following:

Removed:‘(h) “final destination” means the destination of the flight or of the last connecting flight on a journey;

Removed:(i) “person with disabilities” and “person with reduced mobility” mean any person who has a permanent or temporary physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairment which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder that person’s full and effective use of transport on an equal basis with other passengers or whose mobility when using transport is reduced due to age any physical disability (sensory or locomotor, permanent or temporary), intellectual disability or impairment, or any other cause of disability, or age, and whose situation needs appropriate attention and the adaptation to his or her particular needs of the service made available to all passengers; [Am. 60]

Removed:(j) “denied boarding” means a refusal to carry passengers on a flight, although they have presented themselves for boarding under the conditions laid down in Article 4(1), or where they were informed in advance that they will be denied boarding against their will, except where there are reasonable grounds to deny them boarding, such as health, safety, security or inadequate travel documentation;; [Am. 61]

Removed:(k) “volunteer” means a passenger who has presented himself or herself for boarding under the conditions laid down in Article 4(1) and responds positively to the air carrier’s call for passengers who are prepared not to board the aircraft for their flight in exchange for benefits;

Removed:(l) “cancellation” means the non-operation of a flight which was previously planned and for which an air transport contract was issued, and includes situations where:

Removed:(i) the aircraft took off but, for whatever reason, either diverted to an airport other than the airport of arrival indicated on the ticket, or returned to the airport of departure, and could not continue to the airport of arrival indicated on the ticket, unless the actual airport of arrival and the airport of arrival indicated on the ticket serve the same town, city or region and the air carrier provided transport to the passenger to the airport of arrival indicated on the ticket, or [Am. 62]

Removed:(ii) a passenger has been issued a ticket for a flight and the time of departure indicated on the passenger’s ticket has been brought forward by more than one hour, unless the check-in and boarding times remain unchanged, or unless the passenger has taken the rescheduled flight;;.’; [Am. 63]

Removed:(d) the following points are added:

Removed:‘(m) “third country” means any country or part of a territory of a Member State to which the Treaties do not apply;

Removed:(n) “delay at departure” means the difference in time between the time of departure indicated on the passenger’s ticket and the actual time of departure of the flight;

Removed:(o) “delay at arrival” means the difference in time between the time of arrival indicated on the passenger’s ticket and the actual time of arrival of the flight; a flight where the aircraft took off but was subsequently forced to return to the airport of departure and took off again at a later time is considered to be delayed at arrival; [Am. 64]

Removed:(p) “class of transport” means a part of the passenger cabin of the aircraft characterised by either a specific code indicated in the air transport contract or a combination of different seats, a different seat configuration or anyand other differencedifferences in the service, such as specific catering, provided to passengers compared to other parts of the cabin; [Am. 65]

Removed:(q) “air transport contract” means a contract of carriage concluded between an air carrier or its authorised agent and a passenger or passengers, for the provision of one or more flights; [Am. 66]

Removed:(r) “extraordinary circumstances” means circumstances which by their nature or origin are not inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of the air carrier concerned and are beyond its actual control, such as the circumstances in the non-exhaustive list of extraordinary circumstances set out in point 1 of the Annex, but excludes the circumstances in the non-exhaustive list of circumstances set out in point 2 of the Annex; [Am. 67]

Removed:(s) “flight” means an air transport operation operated by a single aircraft between two airports as specified on the ticket through a predetermined itinerary, a schedule and a single identification number, regardless of whether there are intermediate stops exclusively for technical and operational purposes;

Removed:(t) “connecting flight” means a flight under a single contract of carriage or a single booking reference, or both, which, as part of a journey, is intended to enable the passenger to depart from the initial point of departure and to arrive at a transfer point in order to depart on another flight, or is intended to enable the passenger to depart from a transfer point to enable the passenger to reach another transfer point or the passenger’s final destination; [Am. 68]

Removed:(u) “stopover” means an intentional interruption of a journey under a single air transport contract for a period of time beyond that required for direct transit through or, when changing flights, for a period normally extending to the time of departure of the next connecting flight and including, in exceptional cases, an overnight stay;

Removed:(v) “journey” means a flight or connecting flights transporting the passenger from the initial point of departure to the passenger’s final destination in accordance with a single air transport contract, with outbound and return flights being separate journeys;

Removed:(w) “time of departure” means the time when the aircraft leaves the departure stand, either by being pushed back or on its own power (off-block time);

Removed:(x) “time of arrival” means the time when the aircraft reaches the arrival stand and its parking brakes are engaged (on-block time);

Removed:(y) “tarmac delay” means a period of time exceeding 30 minutes during which the aircraft remains on the ground between the closing of the aircraft doors and the take-off time of the aircraft, at departure, or a period of time exceeding 30 minutes between the touch-down of the aircraft and the opening of the aircraft doors, at arrival;

Removed:(z) “night” means the period between midnight and 06:00;

Removed:(za) “child” means a person below the age of 14 years as of the date of departure of the flight or first connecting flight under an air transport contract;

Removed:(zaa) "unaccompanied child" means a child travelling without an adult guardian and where the air carrier has accepted responsibility for care in accordance with its published rules; [Am. 69]

Removed:(zb) “infant” means a person below the age of two years as of the date of departure of the flight or first connecting flight under an air transport contract;

Removed:(zc) “durable medium” means any instrument which enables the passenger to store information in a way accessible for future reference, for a period of time adequate for the purposes of the information and which allows the unchanged reproduction of the information stored;

Removed:(zd) “accessible format” means a format that gives a person with disabilities or a person with reduced mobility access to any relevant information, including by providing that person with access in as feasible and as comfortable a manner as a person without an impairment or disability, and which meets accessibility requirements defined in accordance with the applicable legislation, in particular Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council*;

Removed:(ze) “disruption” means denied boarding, cancellation, delay at departure, delay at arrival or tarmac delay;

Removed:(zf) “initial point of departure” means the departure point of the flight or of the first connecting flight on a journey;

Removed:(zfa) “personal item” means a piece of unchecked baggage, which complies with security and safety requirements, and either with maximum dimensions of 40x30x15cm or on condition that it fits under the seat in front of the seat in which the passenger is sitting; [Am. 70]

Removed:(zfb) “hand baggage” means a piece of unchecked baggage which is not a personal item and which complies with security and safety requirements. [Am. 71]

Removed:________________

Removed:* Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services (OJ L 151, 7.6.2019, p. 70, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/882/oj).’;

Removed:(3) Article 3 is replaced by the following:

Removed:‘Article 3 Scope

Removed:1. This Regulation shall apply:

Removed:(a) to passengers departing from an airport located in the territory of a Member State to which the Treaties apply;

Removed:(b) to passengers departing from an airport located in a third country to an airport situated in the territory of a Member State to which the Treaties apply, unless they received equivalent benefits or compensation and were given assistance in that third country, if the operating air carrier of the flight concerned is a Union air carrier. [Am. 72]

Removed:2. Paragraph 1 shall apply on the condition that passengers:

Removed:(a) have a ticket for the flight concerned; or

Removed:(b) have been transferred by an air carrier or an intermediary from the flight for which they held a ticket to another flight, irrespective of the reason.

Removed:3. This Regulation shall not apply to passengers travelling free of charge or at a reduced fare not available, directly or indirectly, to the public. However, it shall apply to passengers having tickets issued under a frequent flyer programme or other commercial programme by an air carrier or intermediary. [Am. 73]