ECJ: Hard aircraft landing does not constitute an "accident"

May 26, 2021 Benn-Ibler Rechtsanwälte

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) had to decide in the course of damages proceedings on the request for a preliminary ruling by the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) whether a hard aircraft landing can constitute an accident within the meaning of Art 17(1) of the Montreal Convention.

In the present case, an airline passenger flew from Austria to Switzerland and claimed to have suffered a spinal disk injury upon the unforeseen hard landing of the aircraft. She then took action against the airline. According to Art. 17 (1) of the Montreal Convention, the airline is liable for any bodily injuries sustained by the passenger on board the aircraft or within the course of embarking or disembarking.

The ECJ indicated that, according to the referring court, a hard landing – such as the one on which the original proceedings were based – was safer at the airport in Switzerland because of its alpine location. No pilot error could be established. Upon landing, the flight recorder showed a vertical load of 1.8kg, which, from an aeronautical point of view, is still within the normal range. According to the manufacturer, the maximum load on the landing gear and the load-bearing parts is 2kg.

Overall, a landing - regardless of the subjective perception of the passengers - cannot be qualified as an accident if the technical standards were taken into account and the operating limits applicable to the aircraft were not exceeded. In this context, it was also irrelevant that the passenger concerned had perceived the hard landing as an unforeseeable event.

ECJ C-70/20 (12.05.2021)