Nicola Murphy
P10534909
English and European legal contexts- The legal aspects arising from the Icelandic Volcanic ash cloud.
In 2009 there were signs of seismic activity in Eyjafjallajӧkull located in Iceland which resulted in an eruption on the 20th March 2010. This was followed by a large explosion of ash on the 14th April which travelled long distances. This caused a lot of European airspace to be closed from 15th April for 7 days. Airspace was reopened on the 21st April 2010 after a week of grounded aircraft and hundreds of thousands of passengers being stranded both in Europe and across the World. The disruption cost airlines around £120 million a day and £110 million in lost revenue. More than 6.8 million passengers were affected. Several legal issues were raised due to the ash cloud.
As the ash cloud cost Airlines Millions of pounds it is said that the government may be liable to compensate an airline for loss of business caused as a result of the closure of airspace. British Airways requested financial compensation from the European Union and the British Government for the closure of Airspace, basing its claim on the fact that its test flight through designated no-fly zone revealed that there were no variations in normal operation performance.[] Another issue that arises from the grounded aircrafts is that of, compensation towards passengers for cancelled flights. Regulation states if a flight is cancelled that all EU airlines, or airlines departing from an EU country, are obliged to offer customers a replacement flight at the earliest opportunity, or a refund to the part of the journey that is not made[]. Many passengers, for their own personal reasons were unable to wait for replacement flights and at their own expense found alternative means of getting home. For example Graham Cox was stranded in Beijing on April 19th 2010 and was offered a flight by British Airways for May 7th. He managed to return to the UK on an earlier flight by going to Hong Kong at his own expense, and returned to the UK on May 1[]. Therefore a clear issue that is raised by the ash cloud is whether Graham Cox or people in similar situations are entitled to compensation for the expenses they have pocketed in order to get home. Should the airlines be obligated to pay compensation in these situations?
