The European Commission has said that 35,000 flights were cancelled in Europe in December due to the Arctic weather conditions.
Following a meeting with industry representatives, Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said the suffering of passengers and the lack of information given to them was 'unacceptable'.
Referring to the combination of the volcanic ash cloud and the December weather chaos, Mr Kallas said: 'During last year's negative events we noticed in general two very bad trends - a lack of information and a lack of commitment to care about passengers.'
December's record low temperatures caused misery for millions of passengers trying to cross Europe or to leave for other parts of the world.
The travel chaos left thousands of passengers stranded for days and even over Christmas because of the failure of airports and airlines to cope with severe weather conditions.
Many airports, including Dublin, Paris and Heathrow, were forced to close because of heavy snow and de-icing problems.
An EU spokeswoman said that it could legislate to ensure that ground services, which provide snow ploughs and de-icing facilities, do provide a basic level of service in order to avoid a repeat of the chaos in December.
Helen Kearns, a spokeswoman for Mr Kallas, said that if airport authorities feel they are not able to compel ground services to provide a minimum service, then the Commission could produce legislation that allows airports to demand such a service or the principle of the service.
It is understood the airports authorities complained that, due to the liberalisation of ground handling services, they were unable to guarantee a minimum standard from companies operating those services.
Airports facing capacity problems
The Commissioner said that airports are already facing capacity problems, saying that under most challenging scenarios, around 40 airports could be congested for eight hours a day by 2030, with 25% of demand not accommodated.
Mr Kallas accepted that the opening up of airports to competition and the liberalisation of services had driven the industry forwards but that 'extreme cost competition' had created strains.
He said that passengers, airlines, air traffic management, airports, maintenance and ground handling staff should all be part of a 'chain' that guaranteed a high quality service, but which also proportionately shared risks, responsibility, profits and losses.
Mr Kallas acknowledged that airports, airlines and ground handling services tended to blame each other during the crisis when things went wrong.
While passengers enjoyed EU-enshrined rights for information, care and reimbursement from airlines, the obligations of airports towards passengers was less clear.
'People tend not to sue airports,' he told a news conference in Brussels.
The Commissioner said he was reluctant for the EU to start regulating how much snow represents an emergency.
Instead, he would prefer industry and other 'stakeholders' to get together to work out the chain of responsibility and care.
He said: 'As a passenger I should know what kind of service I am expected to receive.
'There is always an element of risk, but the response to exceptional weather should be proportionate.'
ACI (Airports Council International), the main airports lobby organisation that met Mr Kallas today, claimed that despite the weather problems, 85% of air traffic was unaffected and passenger safety was upheld at all times.
