MC99: German Supreme Court annuls CA judgment that rejected passenger claim who slipped on passenger bridge

The German Supreme Court (BGH) annulled and remanded a judgment of the Court of Appeal (CA) of Düsseldorf that rejected a claim of a passenger who slipped on the passenger bridge during the disembarkation process.

German district court rejects discrimination claim brought by Israeli passenger against Kuwait Airways for denied boarding

The District Court of Frankfurt ruled that Kuwait Airways was entitled to refuse boarding to an Israeli passenger because of his nationality, based on a Kuwaiti law that bans contracts with Israeli nationals. The judgment is subject to appeal.

EU 261: German Supreme Court rules on liability for delay of re-routing flight

The German Supreme Court (BGH) ruled that an operating carrier could be liable, under Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, for cancelling its initial flight, if the re-routing flight offered is delayed, with the result that the passengers reach delayed their final destination, even if the re-routing flight is operated by another carrier.

German court finds airline price-adjustment clause unfair

In a recent judgment, the Court of first instance of Berlin (LG Berlin) fined Air Berlin for using an unfair price-adjustment clause in its contracts, in legal proceedings initiated by the Federal German Consumer Protection Association (VZBV). The judgment is appealable.

UAS: Greek law enters into force

On 1.1.2017 entered into force the Greek law on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), which is the Decision of the Director of the Greek Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) No Δ/ΥΠΑ/21860/1422. The Decision applies to all UAS that fly within Greek airspace or within international airspace, but inside the Flight Information Region (FIR) / Upper Information Region (UIR) of Greece. 

Implementing legislative measures of the Decision are pending, which means that details on the application of its provisions are not yet known.  Furthermore, many provisions of the Decision are based on the Prototype Commission Regulation on Unmanned AircraftOperations published by EASA on 22 August 2016 for consultation purposes. This is an additional hurdle to the implementation of the Decision, since this EASA Prototype Regulation has not entered into force and contains rules on areas that belong to the competence of the EU, such as product safety rules.

Air carrier liability: Greek CA rules against compensability of pure mental injury under Montreal Convention

The Court of Appeals (CA) of Athens, Greece, in its decision No 4326/2015, ruled that a passenger who suffered mental distress, but no bodily injury, does not have a right to compensation under Art. 17 of the 1999 Montreal Convention on air carrier liability (MC).

EASA issues regulatory proposals in response to the Germanwings accident

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has published a set of regulatory proposals, to prevent accidents like the Germanwings flight 4U9525, in which the co-pilot, who had a history of mental issues, took advantage of the temporary absence of the pilot-in-command and committed suicide by crashing the aircraft. The proposals concern medical requirements for pilots and the "2-persons-in-the-cockpit" recommendation. Further recommendations are about to follow by the end of the year.