Tourism Law in Europe

the UK and the rest of the European Union on 28 June 2004 2 . It imposes a strict liability regime in relation to accidents occurring during the course of international carriage by air, and as such requires the courts of the UK to grapple with concepts which are wholly alien to them. Article 17 (1) of the Convention provides: “ The carrier is liable for damage sustained in case of death or bodily injury of a passenger upon condition only that the accident which caused the death or injury took place on board the aircraft or in the course of any of the operations of embarking or disembarking (…)”. The Claimant must establish that there has been an accident , which is a term of art under the Convention. Just because a passenger may suffer an accident in the sense understood colloquially in English does not necessarily mean that the accident is a qualifying accident that falls within Article 17. To be a qualifying accident under Article 17 there must be an unexpected unusual event or happening that is external to the passenger (cf Saks v Air France [1985] 470 US 392, a definition that was approved by the House of Lords in Morris v KLM Royal Dutch Airlines [2002] 2 WLR 578 ) . This definition is broad enough to encompass terrorist acts and torts committed by others on board the aircraft , including torts involving deliberate misconduct by one passenger on another. Morris v KLM Royal Dutch Airlines concerned a male passenger who indecently assaulted a young girl in a neighbouring seat. The Court of Appeal was satisfied that such an incident was an ‘accident’ within the meaning of Article 17. Where the injury arises as the result of a passenger’s own internal reaction to the ‘ usual, normal and expected ’ operation of the aircraft, however, there has not been an accident within the meaning of the Convention. In Chaudhari v British Airways Plc, The Times, 7 th May 1997 the Claimant suffered from a left-sided paralysis rendering him partly disabled. In the course of a flight to Los Angeles he attempted to leave his seat, and being unable to stand up properly he fell injuring his hip. His claim failed in the Court of Appeal; this was not an ‘ accident ’ covered by the Convention, but an event occasioned by the Claimant’s own infirmity , when combined with the ordinary operation of the aircraft. 2 European Union countries jointly ratified the Convention on 29 th April 2004. The provisions of the Convention relating to the liability of air carriers were incorporated into Council Regulation (EC) No.2027/97, which was amended by Regulation (EC) No.889/2002.