Air Carrier Liability to Passengers

It must be noted that the extraordinary circumstances defense is not an absolute one. It must be accompanied by the fact that the extraordinary circumstances could not have been avoided even if aU reasonable measures had been taken. In the instance of the closure of airspace due to the presence therein of volcanic ash, the maxim in tort Res ipsa Loquitur (facts speak for themselves) would apply and the airlines who cancelled their flights as a result of the closure need not go to any lengths defending the fact that the circumstances could not be 

Article 3.1.a). The Regulation also applies to passengers departing from an airport located in a third country to an airport situated in the territory of a Member State to which the Treaty applies, unless they have received benefits or cmnpensation and were given assistance in that third country, if the operating air carrier of the flight crmcemed is a Community carrier. See Article 3 1. b). 

Regulation 261 004 supra note 298, see 15th Whereas clause. 

Air transport is a beleaguered and complex business, which barely survives at the best of times. Natural disasters, economic recession, adverse governmental policy, restrictive economic policy pertaining to the operation of commercial flights, all present obstacles in various proportions and forms. Therefore, the last 

John Balfour, The Extraordinary Circumstances Defence in EC Regulation 261/2004 after Wallentin-Hermann v. Alitalia, ZLW 58.Jg. 2/2009 224-231 at 224. 

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