CJEU judgment on air-traffic case a first
The EU’s highest court has, for the first time, set aside a judgment given by way of a preliminary ruling by the lower General Court.
The lower court’s ruling, given in January, came in a case referred to it by a Polish court that arose from an airline passenger’s claim for compensation after an air-traffic management decision added to a delay in a flight from Izmir (Türkiye) to Warsaw (Poland).
The General Court ruled that decisions on air-traffic management were, in principle, beyond an airline’s control, regardless of the reason, unless the airline itself contributed to the decision.
As a result, such a decision could constitute an ‘extraordinary circumstance’, enabling an airline to avoid paying compensation.
Preliminary rulings
Under a 2024 change in the statute governing the EU courts, jurisdiction to give preliminary rulings in six areas – including cases linked to compensation for air passengers – was transferred from the CJEU to the General Court.
These rulings can, however, be reviewed by the higher court on a proposal from the court’s First Advocate General, as this case was.
In its judgment today (8 October) the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) found that the lower court’s interpretation “adversely affects the unity and consistency of EU law”.
The CJEU said that not every air-traffic management decision could, in itself, be classified as an ‘extraordinary circumstance’.
‘Case-by-case basis’
The judges added that airlines were regularly faced with such decisions.
“To establish the existence of ‘extraordinary circumstances’, it is necessary to identify the event that led to the adoption of the air-traffic management decision of the air carrier and to ascertain, on a case-by-case basis, whether that event, by its nature or origin, is not inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of the carrier and is beyond its actual control,” they stated.
The higher court found that an airline could not rely on such air-traffic decisions to be exempted from its obligation to pay compensation for delays of more than three hours.
“It must demonstrate that that decision was taken on account of a circumstance which was itself of an extraordinary nature,” the judgment said.
The CJEU said that, in the Polish case, the adverse weather conditions given as the reason for the air-traffic decision might constitute ‘extraordinary circumstances’, but it was for the national court to decide on this.