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Air Carriers’ Obligation in ‘Extraordinary Circumstances’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Sophia Tang
Sophia Tang*
Affiliation:
University of Leeds School of Law
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Abstract

The closure of part of European airspace as a result of the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano constitutes “extraordinary circumstances” which does not release air carriers from their obligation, in the event of cancellation of a flight, to provide passengers care and assistance (author's headnote).

Type
Case Notes
Information
European Journal of Risk Regulation , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , June 2013 , pp. 275 - 279
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013

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References

1 Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air of 1999, signed by the European Community on 9 December 1999 and approved by Council Decision 2001/539/EC of 5 April 2001, OJ L 194, 18.7.2001, p. 30.

2 Regulation (EC) No 889/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 May 2002 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2027/97 on air carrier liability in the event of accidents OJ L 140, 30.5.2002, p. 2–5.

3 Regulation 261/2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and cancellation or long delay of flights, and repealing Regulation (EEC) 295/91, OJ L 46, 17.2.2004, p. 1–7.

4 Regulation (EC) No 1107/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 concerning the rights of disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility when travelling by air, OJ L 204, 26.7.2006, p. 1–9.

5 Council Directive 90/314/EEC of 13 June 1990 on package travel, package holidays and package tours, OJ L 158, 23.6.1990, p. 59–64.

6 Art 9 of Regulation 261/2004.

7 Case C-549/07, Wallentin–Hermann v Alitalia–Linee Aeree Italiane SpA, 2008 ECR I-11061 (whether the ‘complex engine defect in the turbine’is an extraordinary circumstance); Joined Cases C-402/07 & C-432/07, Sturgeon v Condor Flugdienst GmbH, Bock v Air France SA, 2009 ECR I-10923 (technical defects not inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of the air carrier are not extraordinary circumstances).

8 Recitals 12 and 14 of Regulation 261/2004.

9 Recital 14 of Regulation 261/2004.

10 Recital 15 of Regulation 261/2004.

11 eg. Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia-Linee Aeree Italiane SpA; Sturgeon v Condor Flugdienst GmbH, Bock v Air France SA.

12 Case C-12/11, McDonagh v Ryanair Ltd [2013] ECR 0.

13 Para 16.

14 Para 16.

15 Para 28. Case C-549/07 Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia-Linee Aeree Italiane SpA, [2008] ECR I-11061, para 17; Case C-371/03, Aulinger v Bundesrepublic Deutschland, [2006] ECR I-2207, para 30; Case T-260/04, Air Inter SA v Commission of the European Communities, [1997] ECR II-997, para 99.

16 Para 29.

17 Para 30.

18 Para 31.

19 Para 31.

20 Para 33.

21 Para 40.

22 Para 41.

23 Para 42.

24 Case C-344/04 International Air Transport Association and European Low Fares Airline Association v Department for Transport [2006] ECR I-403.

25 The claimants claimed that ‘the measures to assist, care for and compensate passengers that are prescribed by Articles 5, 6 and 7 of Regulation No 261/2004 in the event of cancellation of, or a long delay to, a flight do not enable the objective of reducing such instances of cancellation or delay to be achieved and are in any event, by reason of the considerable financial charges which they will impose on Community air carriers, totally disproportionate to the objective pursued’. Para 81, Case C-344/04.

26 Paras 84–91.

27 Para 87.

28 Para 45 of Case C-12/11.

29 Para 47.

30 Para 48.

31 Para 49.

32 Para 51.

33 Para 56.

34 Para 61–63.

35 Para 52.

36 This purpose has been confirmed by a number of previous cases concerning Regulation 261/2004. See Case C-581/10, Nelson v Deutsche Lufthansa AG, unreported, 23 Oct 2012; Case C-402/07, Sturgeon v Condor Flugdienst GmbH [2009] ECR I-10923; Case C-22/11, Finnair Oyj v Lassooy, Unreported, 4 Oct 2012.

37 Morten Broberg, “Air passenger's rights in the European Union”,7 Journal of Business Law (2009), at 727.

38 Joined Cases C-402/07 & C-432/07, Sturgeon v. Condor Flugdienst GmbH, Böck v. Air France SA, 2009 ECR I-10923.

39 JW Lee, JC Wheeler, “Air Carrier Liability for Delay”, 77 Journal of Air Law and Commerce (2012), 43 et sqq, at 78.

40 Broberg, supra note 37, at 727-8.

41 One of the legislative bodies, the European Commission made the statement afterwards that air carriers could not release their Regulation duty for cancellation and delay caused by volcanic ash. See Information Note to the Commission: The Impact of the Volcanic Ash Cloud Crisis on the Air Transport Industry, 2010 OJ (1915) 1, 24.

42 Broberg, supra note 37, at 728.

43 Ryanair had introduced an extra 2 EUR per passenger to internalise the obligations imposed by Regulation 261/2004 in 2011 by estimating over 100 million EUR compensation for cancellation and long delay of flight during the volcanic ash incidents. However, it was claimed that Ryanair carried over 72 million passengers in that year, the extra fees exceeded the real cost. See J Prassl, “Case C-12/11 Denise McDonagh v Ryanair: Volcanic ash and ‘super extraordinary circumstances’”, <http://eutopialaw.com/2013/02/04/case-c-1211-denise-mcdonagh-v-ryanair-volcanic-ash-and-super-extraordinary-circumstances/> (last accessed on 14 May 2013).

44 Case C-344/04 International Air Transport Association and European Low Fares Airline Association v Department for Transport [2006] ECR I-403.

45 Lee, Wheeler, supra note 39, at 80.

46 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council pursuant to Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 on the operation and the results of this Regulation establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights, COM(2007)168 final, s.4.1.3; Broberg, supra note 37, at 728.