SmartLynx to pay over €400,000 in compensation
The Estonian subsidiary of Latvian charter airline SmartLynx is to honor a decision by Harju County Court requiring it to pay over 400,000 euros compensation for flight delays and cancellations.
The payments relate to a decision on March 12, where Harju County Court ordered Smartlynx Airlines Estonia OÜ to pay the compensation, which totals 407,772 euros, to another Estonian company, Lennuabi OÜ, according to daily Eesti Päevalehet (EPL).
On its website, Lennuabi states its mission is "...to educate the public about air passenger rights, and to uphold the rights of the passengers which airlines have inconvenienced."
The compensation arises from over 1,000 cases, Lennuabi OÜ's lawyer Lembit Teder told ERR Monday, a somewhat exceptional situation in Estonia, he said.
The compensation is due to be paid in installments. The first of these, 25,000 euros, was paid at the end of March, with the deadline for the final installment of 89,443 euros being the end of August.
OÜ Lennuabi itself will receive over 122,000 euros of the compensation as its cut, though its legal expenses will be drawn from this sum, according to Teder.
The Consumer Protection Board (Tarbijakaitseamet) said last year that 161 cases of delays with SmartLynx flights, mainly of over three hours, were reported to them last year. In the case of long delays, the regulations entitle a passenger to compensation from 125 euros to 600 euros.
SmartLynx was founded in 1992 as LatCharter. Today it operates Airbus 320 planes, and also offers flight crew training. SmartLynx Airlines Estonia operates a reported seven planes.
Editor: Andrew Whyte