The first three decades of the twentieth century were innovative for aviation in a world that seemed to be full of technological progress. The first airships flew up in the sky in 1900, and in 1903 the Wright brothers took on the legendary flight. In February 1914, the world's first passenger flight on a Russian aircraft, Ilya Muromets, designed by Sikorsky, was completed.
The need for air travel regulation
Over the next three decades, the first aviators pushed humanity and airplanes to achievements that entailed the urgent need to develop legal regulatory documents governing international air travel. Together with the new transport industry - commercial civil aviation - a new section of law was born.
The first such document was the Warsaw Convention for the unification of certain rules of international air transport, which was signed in October 1929. It first formulated a set of rules for the nascent industry of international civil aviation. The authentic text of the convention is written in French, and to this day sometimes there is disagreement in the courts regarding the interpretation of the original text and its translation into English.
Convention Standards
The Warsaw Convention has set standards for the issuance of air tickets, registration coupons and baggage receipts to individuals, confirming the handing over of airline baggage for delivery to the final destination. An even more important part was the agreed rules and approved norms for compensation for damage caused to a passenger in the event of a tragic flight scenario.
The standard for injuries sustained by passengers as a result of an accident provides for the payment of compensation to injured passengers or relatives of those killed during an aircraft accident with a maximum of 8,300 special drawing rights (SDRs) converted into their local currency.
Baggage transferred to the care of airlines is estimated at 17 SDR per kilogram of lost or damaged cargo. The carrier is obliged to compensate for damage caused in the event of death or injury, or any other bodily harm suffered by the passenger, if the event that caused the damage occurred on board the aircraft or in the process of boarding or leaving it.
The Warsaw Convention on International Air Transport regulates the relationship between the carrier and the passenger in cases where the second travels from one country to another. Or if the route is laid so that the departure and destination points are located within one state, but a stop is planned between them on the territory of another country. The Convention does not apply to domestic flights. They are governed by national laws. In a number of developed countries, the standards for compensation for damage to air passengers often significantly exceed the norms of the convention.
Originally conceived as a means to maintain and develop the international commercial aviation industry, the convention has limited maximum compensation limits for passengers in the event of physical damage or death in a plane crash.
Amendment History
Since the entry into force of the Warsaw Convention of 1929 on February 13, 1933, its provisions have been the subject of criticism and amendment. The main task - to establish uniform rules governing the rights and responsibilities of international air carriers and passengers, consignors and consignees in the countries participating in the convention, was formally implemented.
But there was growing dissatisfaction with the introduction of strict monetary restrictions on the amount of liability "in order to help growing international civil aviation," as well as the possibility for the carrier to avoid payments to victims due to force majeure circumstances of force majeure.
The Hague Protocol of 1955
Since the beginning of the fifties of the last century, the United States has launched a campaign to increase the liability of airline companies for personal injury to passengers and damage or loss of cargo. On September 28, 1955, a protocol was signed in The Hague that recorded a double increase in the initial maximum limit of compensation for physical harm to a passenger from 8300 to 16600 US dollars.
The protocol provided that the limitation of liability does not apply if the damage was a direct result of the action or inaction of the carrierās employees or agents. In this case, the airline is obliged to pay the injured passengers the full amount of the proved damage.
A significant amendment was the article, according to which the air passenger received the right to recover the amount of legal costs from the carrier company. This protocol introduced the first official amendments to the Warsaw Convention to unify certain rules of international air transport.
1966 Montreal Agreement
Unsatisfied with low compensation limits, the United States did not ratify the Hague Protocol and initiated the signing in 1966 of the Montreal Agreement between carriers flying to or from the United States and the American Civil Aviation Authority.
Under the terms of this agreement, compensation for victims of air crashes on flights to or from the United States was increased to $ 75,000, regardless of whether the accident was caused by the carrierās negligence. Thus, for the first time in the history of international civil aviation, the concept of the airlineās absolute obligation to the passenger was adopted. True, these changes concerned only US citizens.
After signing the agreement, the United States denounced the 1929 Warsaw Air Transport Convention.
Changes 1971-1975
In March 1971, the Guatemalan protocol was signed, the basic concept of which was that the carrierās liability for causing harm to the passenger or baggage became imperative, independent of his fault in the accident. But the protocol never entered into force. He did not manage to get thirty necessary votes. Subsequently, the main provisions of the Guatemalan Treaty were incorporated into Montreal Protocol No. 3.
In total, four Montreal protocols were signed in 1975, amending and supplementing the provisions of the Warsaw Convention on International Air Transport. They changed the standards for consignment notes, replaced the gold standard with the SDR standard for the purpose of calculating universal liability limits, and increased the maximum compensation limit to US $ 100,000.
In general, the airlineās liability system began to look like a patchwork quilt.
Attempts to modernize the Warsaw Convention in the 90s
In the last decade of the twentieth century, several attempts have been made to modernize the Warsaw system and increase the responsibility of air carriers. National initiatives by several countries to amend domestic air law have accelerated this process.
Japan, Australia and Italy have taken unilateral measures, according to which the carrier is fully responsible for international transport in the amount established for companies on domestic airlines. All Nippon Airways has voluntarily announced that from November 1992 the Warsaw system restrictions on flights will be lifted.
The Australian government also increased statutory liability levels in its domestic law to $ 500,000 and extended these requirements to international carriers flying to the Australian continent.
The Commission of the European Union (EU) introduced in March 1996 a Council Regulation on air carrier liability. It was proposed to increase the limits of compensation and the exclusion of any liability limitations in case the airline's fault in the incident is proved.
Montreal 1999 Convention
The Montreal Convention was adopted at a diplomatic meeting of ICAO Member States in 1999. She amended the important provisions of the Warsaw Convention with a compensation regime for victims of air disasters.
The signing of the convention is an attempt to restore uniformity and predictability of the rules regarding the international transport of passengers and goods. While maintaining the key provisions that have served the international air transport community for several decades since the ratification of the Warsaw Convention, the new treaty modernized a number of key provisions.
It protects passengers by introducing a two-level liability system, which excludes the previous requirement to prove a malicious violation by the air carrier of safety standards and his guilt in the incident. This should eliminate or reduce the number of protracted litigation.
The carrierās liability limit has been established in the absence of his fault in the plane crash and all limits have been canceled if the accident was caused by unlawful actions or inaction.
With regard to compensation for delayed flights and the carriage of goods, the obligation to indemnify passengers is established only if this happened due to the fault of the carrier.
The Montreal Convention, in fact, incorporated all the various international treaty regimes covering airline liability that have developed since 1929. It is designed as a single, universal agreement governing the liability of airlines around the world. Its structure corresponds to the structure of the Warsaw Convention.
The Montreal Convention is a historic private international air law treaty that has replaced six different legal instruments known as the Warsaw System.
Conventions in force
The legal regime established by the Warsaw Convention to unify certain rules of 1929 and supported by the 1999 Montreal Convention still regulates commercial aviation by detailing a set of minimum standardized safety procedures. These are standards for air navigation systems, airports, and aircraft maintenance to ensure safe and efficient air travel.
The rules established by these conventions also regulate possible claims that may be brought against airlines in connection with the death or harm to passengers, damage and loss of baggage and cargo. It not only limits the time and place of lawsuit, but also excludes the application of national laws if a country has ratified one or both of the conventions.
With regard to claims for compensation for non-pecuniary damage, the regime of conventions does not allow the presentation of such claims against the air carrier by passengers.
Collaboration is key
Despite the desire to unify the rules for all participants in international flights, at the beginning of 2019, only 120 states joined the Montreal Convention.
This means that there are still various carrier liability regimes around the world. Claims handling and litigation in the event of accidents or plane crashes are unnecessarily complex.
Recognizing the significant benefits that the 1999 Montreal Convention offers, ICAO is actively advocating for countries to ratify it as soon as possible. IATA also supports this resolution and works with governments to promote benefits and call for ratification.
Modern regulation of air transportation
Today, air carrier liability is governed by a combination of international and national laws, which often makes resolving airline claims a complex process.
The unity that the founders of the Warsaw and Montreal conventions of international transport dreamed about was never achieved. There are countries that are parties to both, and countries that have not ratified any of the existing conventions.
The Russian Federation announced its accession to the Montreal Convention in April 1917. Ratification of the convention will provide a higher level of compensation to Russian passengers on international flights in case of emergency.
Russia is currently amending the Air Code to bring national legislation in line with the provisions of the Montreal Agreements. The Warsaw Convention to unify certain rules of air transportation, to which the country is currently a party, will cease from the moment of ratification of the Montreal Convention.