International Flight Accident Compensation

By virtue of a recent conference where over 100 nations including European Union adopted and accepted a new treaty known as “Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air”. This was signed in Montreal in 99. The Montreal 99 amendment confirms that individuals who have sustained injuries and damage as passengers on air flights are entitled to seek compensation for those.

This is very important for Australia. E.g. people travelling from Sydney to Bali return or Sydney to Fiji return or other countries who are signatories to the Convention would all be covered. Significant time limits apply. You have a strict period of 2 years.

Previously the relevant Warsaw Convention limited the jurisdiction where an action could be brought, that is the Court dealing with the matter would have to be a place where the actual carrier is a residence or has its principal place of business. Under the new provisions, there is now an additional jurisdiction element that allows an individual to bring a claim for damages in a Court where the Plaintiff himself has a principal and permanent residence and of course the airline carrier operates passengers’ services from that jurisdiction.

The critical question is how damages and compensation are determined. A person who therefore is entitled to commence proceedings in Australia can do so but the assessment of damages as is provided by Montreal 99 is determined by local laws. Therefore the local law of the State or Territory in which the proceedings brought is relevant.