In the event of a flight delay caused by the spillage of petrol on the take-off runway, the air carrier is not obliged to compensate passengers, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on Wednesday 26 June (Case C-159/18).
This decision comes in the context of a case between Ryanair and Claim it, a company mandated by a former passenger of the airline. As his flight was delayed by four hours and twenty-three minutes, the latter sent Ryanair a request for payment of compensation of 250 euros, based on the European Regulation establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of, in particular, a long flight delay (261/2004/EC).
However, Ryanair refused to pay this compensation, considering that the delay was due to "extraordinary circumstances", namely a spill of petrol on the take-off runway that caused it to close for more than 2 hours.
Considering that such a situation is beyond Ryanair's effective control, since the maintenance of the runways and the decision to close them do not fall within its competence, the CJEU ruled that this situation did indeed constitute an extraordinary circumstance, which exempted the airline from its obligation to compensate passengers in the event of a significant flight delay.
See the judgment: https://bit.ly/2J72kBP (Original version in French by Damien Genicot - intern)