The European Union will consider raising from three hours the minimum flight delay for which passengers can receive financial compensation, a move that could cut airlines' costs, according to a document seen by Reuters.

Croatia, which is chairing the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2020, “has proposed amending the rules on compensation for delays and cancellations at talks among EU governments on revising passengers’ rights that are due to start in the coming weeks.”

“Under EU rules, travellers are entitled to up to €600 if a flight is delayed by at least three hours or cancelled less than 14 days before departure. They can also receive compensation if they are denied boarding,” Reuters reported.

But some national authorities and courts have criticised the rules, saying member states struggle to process the large number of claims they receive, and airlines’ compensation payments have grown because the number of delays and cancellations has risen.

The European Commission had suggested in 2013 that the minimum flight delay required for compensation should be increased from three to five hours, but negotiations on changing that rule were soon abandoned.

In 2018, 17.6 million passengers were affected by cancellations and 16.5 million by a long delay, Reuters reported, and cited European Commission figures saying that cancellations in the EU rose by 70 percent in the period from 2011 to 2018, while delayed flights rose by 56 percent.

Major airlines operating in the EU pay hundreds of millions of euros in compensations every year.

In an informal document circulated among member states, Croatia has proposed keeping the level of compensation the same as now for passengers, but suggested increasing the minimum flight delay for which airlines must make payments.