Náhrada škody za zpoždění letu
According to the Advocate General, air carriers have to pay a compensation for a long delay of a flight occasioned by a collision between the aircraft and a bird The Air Passenger Compensation Regulation1 and the case-law of the Court of Justice based thereon provide that, in case of a delay of three or more hours of a flight, the passengers concerned have the right to seek compensation from the air carrier. The airline company is, however, not obliged to pay compensation if it can prove that the delay is caused by an extraordinary circumstance which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. A flight from Burgas to Ostrava, operated by the Czech airline Travel Service, was delayed by 5h20 due, among others, to a collision between the aircraft and a bird during a previous stopover in Brno on the airplane’s way to Burgas. Two passengers of the delayed flight are both seeking now payment from Travel Service of a compensation of €250 on the basis of the Regulation.[1]
In his Opinion read today, Advocate General Yves Bot (France) reminds that the circumstances surrounding an unexpected event can be characterised as ‘extraordinary’ only if they relate to an event which, on the one hand, is not inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of the air carrier concerned and, on the other hand, is beyond the actual control of that carrier on account of its nature or origin. [2]
As a consequence, the Advocate General opines that the collision of an aircraft with a bird does not amount to an extraordinary circumstance and cannot, therefore, exempt the air carrier from its obligation of compensation in case of a long delay of the flight.[3]
