The cancellation of a flight due to the unexpected death of the co-pilot does not exempt the airline from its obligation to compensate passengers, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on Thursday 11 May (cases C-156/22 to C-158/22).
In July 2019, Portuguese airline TAP cancelled a flight from Stuttgart to Lisbon after the co-pilot was found dead 2 hours before take-off. The passengers were then flown to Lisbon on a replacement flight that took off 5 hours later.
The Court of Justice, hearing a case before the Stuttgart Regional Court, recalled that the planning of crews and staff working hours is part of the normal exercise of an air carrier’s activities. According to the Court, the unexpected absence, due to illness or death of a staff member essential to the operation of a flight, is inherent to the normal exercise of an airline’s activity and therefore does not fall within the notion of “extraordinary circumstances” under the Regulation (261/2004) governing air passenger rights in the EU.
It is the absence itself and not the specific medical cause of this absence that constitutes an event inherent to the normal exercise of the activity of this carrier, the Court states. The fact that the crew member concerned had passed the regular mandatory medical examinations does not invalidate this conclusion.
It follows that the air carrier is not relieved of its obligation to compensate passengers.
See the Court's judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/6ul (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)