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The new Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme will improve outcomes for air travellers by clarifying and upholding the rights of aviation customers, and establish an independent mechanism to resolve customer complaints about the aviation industry.
How the Ombuds Scheme will help Australians
The establishment of a new independent Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme was announced in the Aviation White Paper: Towards 2050. The Ombuds Scheme will develop an Aviation Customer Rights Charter to set out what the ombudsperson considers fair and appropriate treatment of customers by airlines and airports. The Ombuds Scheme will start operating in 2026, once it’s established by legislation.
To support improved outcomes for aviation customers in the short term, an interim ombudsperson has been appointed from within the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (the Department) . The interim ombudsperson has a limited set of functions and in 2024-25 will focus on:
- drafting and consulting on the Aviation Customer Rights Charter
- reviewing and producing a report on aviation industry complaints handling; and
- establishing systems and processes to manage complaints about airports and airlines when the legislation supporting the Ombuds Scheme commences.
Consultations
The Department concluded a consultation on the design and implementation of the independent Ombuds Scheme at the end of 2024, and is currently considering the feedback received through this process.
Consultation on the draft Aviation Customer Rights Charter has recently concluded. The public submissions received through this process have been published on the Have Your Say page.
What’s happening now?
The Department is preparing to undertake a comprehensive review of customer complaints handling processes and standards across the aviation industry. The review is intended to provide a detailed understanding of complaints handling across the sector and provide baseline data and information to measure future changes against. It will also inform the development of best practice complaints handling by the industry and the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme.
Making a complaint
About Airlines
Each major domestic airline has their own process for handling complaints. If you have experienced an issue with the customer service you have received from a domestic airline, including issues with refunds, flight cancellations and delays, and/or baggage services, you must first lodge a complaint with the airline and receive an outcome from that complaints process.
About aircraft noise
About aviation safety and incidents
About Security screening
About Australian Government bodies involved in aviation
Keep in touch
Subscribe to our mailing list to get updates about the interim Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme.
Email: aviationcustomerrights@infrastructure.gov.au
Timeline
Below is a timeline showing the activities taking place between now and the establishment of the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme in 2026.
