Flights from the EU are universally covered by Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 regardless of where the operating carrier is headquartered. This requires airlines to pay a lump-sum compensation of up to €600 to each affected passenger if the flight is cancelled on short notice or delayed by more than three hours on arrival (four hours for long-haul flights).[1] In effect, this means that an airline can still be required to pay passengers compensation under Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 even though it does not maintain a head or branch office in Europe.[9]