Development of EC legislation on the rights of passengers by air

Abstract

This dissertation explores the development of the Community legislation on the air passengers' rights. It commences, in the First Chapter, with the examination of the process of the liberalization of air transport within the EU and the benefits brought by it to Europeans. This Chapter reviews the reasons for the protection of air passengers and the Commission's views on the areas requiring action and methodologies for taking the initiative forward, with particular emphasis on the encouragement of the voluntary commitments. The Second and the Third Chapters discuss the passengers' rights in the event of denied boarding, cancellation or long delay of flight. The regime established by the Montreal Convention is analysed with the reference to the case law. The Regulation 295/91 is compared with the 1998 proposed (but not adopted) amending Regulation, and the drawbacks of both are identified. The Third Chapter deals with the Regulation 261/2004 from the airline point of view. It shows some of its discrepancies through the practical examples and by discussing possible different interpretations of its rules. This Chapter also provides a critical analysis of the ECJ's judgement confirming the legality of the Regulation 261/2004. The Forth Chapter reviews the reasons for the adoption of the Regulation 2027/97 and discusses its conflict with the Warsaw Convention. It also criticises the discrepancies of the Regulation 889/2002 adopted to bring the Regulation 2027/97 in line with the 1999 Montreal Convention. In the Fifth Chapter the importance of the list of airlines banned within the EU and the right to know the identity of the air carrier are explored. This Chapter also refers to discrimination against PRMs practiced by Ryanair and discusses, referring to positive and negative comments, the main provisions of the Regulation 1107/2006 concerning the rights of disabled persons and PRMs. Finally, the Conclusion evaluates whether the increase of mobility in Europe indeed goes hand in hand with the strengthening of air passengers' rights.