Introduction
Those past months have seen the occurrence of numerous very special events in the whole world that have very seriously impacted the aviation industry: the outbreak of the war in Gaza in October 2023, the very heavy rainfall in Dubai in April 2024 and lately the important fire at London Heathrow airport.
Those events have had a dramatic impact on the operation of flights throughout the whole world and impacted the passengers.
As Head Aviation practice, our firm represents major foreign airlines flying to/from Israel and the department had to adapt itself and provide clients with particular advice in those situations.
The Legal Framework
The air traffic is regulated by a series of important texts: Locally, Israel has enacted the Aviation Services Law (Assistance and Compensation for Cancelled Flights or Change of Conditions) 5772-2012. The EU has adopted the Regulations EU 261/2004 while we also have to consider the CONVENTION FOR THE UNIFICATION OF CERTAIN RULES FOR INTERNATIONAL CARRIAGE BY AIR done in Montreal in 1999.
Other countries have adopted similar texts such as the Air Protection Regulations in Canada, the SHY Regulations in Turkiye and similar texts in Russia and Brazil.
Those texts usually provide for two specific frameworks: assistance and compensation.
While compensation is not due in the case of force majeure events such as fire, strikes outside the airline and rainfall, assistance is always due.
It is composed of accommodation and food and beverage for the passengers as well as the rerouting of the passengers to their final destination or a refund at their choice.
The problem airlines are facing is that assistance may amount to very high sums of money which may cause problems to small airlines.
This is the main reason why the European Commission has recently decided to revise its Regulations EU 261/2004 with amounts that may be lowered at the disadvantages of passengers.
Another problem that passengers that faced the fire at London Heathrow airport had to face concerns the cancellation of numerous flights with the technical impossibility for an immediate rerouting.
In this case, the various actors must show creativity to find the correct alternatives.
It is in any case utmost important never to forget the assistance as a lack of it may give rise to serious legal issues including in certain jurisdictions to class actions.
David Sprecher, Adv.
Head of Aviation and Tourism Practice
Partner at AYR - Amar Reiter Jeanne Shochatovitch & Co.