Link: https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2023-05/cp230078en.pdf

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PRESS RELEASE No 78/23

Luxembourg, 11 May 2023

Judgment of the Court in Joined Cases C-156/22 to C-158/22 | TAP Portugal (Death of the co-pilot)

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 Such a death, whilst tragic, does not amount to an ’extraordinary circumstance’ but is, like any unexpected illness which may affect a crew member whose presence is essential, inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of the airline On 17 July 2019, TAP Portugal was to operate a flight at 6.05 from Stuttgart (Germany) to Lisbon (Portugal). On the same day, at 4.15, the co-pilot of the flight in question was found dead in his hotel bed. Shocked by that event, the whole crew declared itself unfit to fly so that the flight was cancelled. A replacement crew left Lisbon at 11.25 and arrived in Stuttgart at 15.20. Next, the passengers were transported to Lisbon on a replacement flight scheduled at 16.40. Certain passengers of the cancelled flight assigned their rights arising from that cancellation to companies which provide legal assistance to air passengers. TAP refused to pay those companies the compensation provided for in the Air Passengers Rights Regulation, 1 claiming that the unexpected death of the co-pilot was an extraordinary circumstance which exempts the air carrier from its obligation to pay compensation. The Stuttgart Regional Court, before which the case was brought, asks the Court of Justice to interpret the Regulation.

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