Montreal Convention: To Whom Is the Carrier Liable in the Event of Delay?

Abstract

It is clear from Article 19 of the Montreal Convention 1999 that the ‘carrier is liable for damage occasioned by delay in the carriage by air of passengers, baggage or cargo’, but it is less clear to whom the carrier is liable – in the case of passenger delay, only to the passenger – or also to other parties who may suffer damage? In a judgment delivered on 17 February 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) confirmed the latter alternative. The CJEU held, in response to a request for a preliminary ruling from the Supreme Court of Lithuania, in Case C-429/14 Air Baltic v. Special Investigation Service of the Lithuanian Republic (SIS), that the Montreal Convention was to be interpreted as meaning that a carrier which has concluded a contract of carriage with an employer of persons carried as passengers is liable to that employer for damage occasioned by delay in the carriage by air of those passengers.