Air passenger rights in Turkey are regulated under the Turkish Civil Aviation Authorities (CAA) regulation of 2011 (SHY-Passenger). This regulation is based on EU Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, which establishes common rules for compensation and assistance to passengers in cases of denied boarding, cancellation, or long delay of flights. SHY-Passenger regulates Turkish air carriers' obligations to passengers due to flight irregularities arising from cancellations, long delays, and denied boarding for flights originating from any airport in Turkey. It also sets forth the basis and limits of air passenger compensation and care rights.
SHY-Passenger follows a similar compensation and right to care system as EU 261. Air carriers must provide assistance and compensation to passengers with confirmed reservations in cases of denied boarding, flight delays, or cancellations. Under SHY-Passenger, passengers are entitled to compensation under a three-tiered system similar to EU 261/2004 for cancellations and denied boarding. However, it only establishes a right to care obligation for air carriers due to long delays under Article 7, without originally granting a right to compensation.
Following the European legal system, the Turkish CAA attempted to address the lack of long delay compensation through a circular detailing passenger rights (Circular) published in September 2015. Article 9 of the Circular granted compensation rights to passengers whose flights were delayed more than 5 hours.
However, Article 9 of the Circular was abolished by the highest administrative court in 2020 (Decision No. 2015/4595 E., 2020/3452 K.). As a result, under the current legal system and due to the abolition of Article 9, passengers on flights originating from Turkish airports are not entitled to long delay compensation under SHY-Passenger, despite its similarity to EU 261/2004.