Amending the current European rules on the passengers' rights may have disastrous consequences and threatens the aviation connectivity in Europe, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Director General Tony Tyler said here on Friday.

Tyler made the remarks at Eastern European Aviation Day, an event attended by more than 150 representatives in the field focusing on identifying key areas of potential in the aviation sector of the region.

Tyler said the EU is considering an amendment to the Regulation 261 so that the operator of the first flight segment in a multi-segment journey should be compelled to pay compensation for the entire trip, if it is deemed responsible for delays that lead to missing connecting flights, or causes a delay in arriving at the final destination because the first flight was rerouted.

This could have disastrous consequences to aviation connectivity in Europe, he said, warning that "connection flights might no longer be offered."

According to the IATA head, the EU's intention to amend the rules on the passengers' rights is a good one, but the regulator does not, sometimes, fully understand the problems and can generate unintentional damages.

In Romania, airlines use some important hubs in the neighbouring countries to provide interline routes to destinations that are not directly served from Romania. Modifying Regulation 261, Tyler argued, threatens connectivity to such destinations, because, if the carrier believes the risk to pay compensation is too big, it will discard the interline solution.