Flight: ECJ ruling: Code-sharing partners can also be held liable for connecting flight delays outside the EU
from Armin Trojer
Eleven passengers booked a flight with the Czech airline "České aerolinie" from Prague (Czech Republic) via Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) to Bangkok (Thailand). The passengers had a single, continuous booking. The first flight was operated by České aerolinie as scheduled. The connecting flight, which was code-shared by Etihad Airways - a third-country airline - and went from Abu Dhabi to Bangkok, had an arrival delay of 488 minutes. The EU Passenger Rights Regulation generally provides for compensation for arrival delays of 3 hours or more, which the eleven passengers also claimed in court - from České aerolinie.
The Czech airline argued against its own payment obligation, as the flight in dispute from Abu Dhabi to Bangkok was operated by Etihad Airways.
Ultimately, the case was referred to the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling.
The wording of the Court's judgment:
"...that a passenger who, in the case of a flight consisting of two connecting flights departing from an airport situated in the territory of a Member State, with a stopover at an airport in a third country and a destination airport in another third country, which was the subject of a single reservation, reaches his destination with a delay of three hours or more resulting from the second part of the flight operated under a code-sharing agreement by an air carrier established in a third country, may bring his action for compensation under this Regulation against the Community air carrier which operated the first flight."
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