THE EUROPEAN AND GREEK LEGAL FRAMEWORKS 149 According to EU Commissioner for Transport, Mrs Adina Valean, the assessment of whether the coronavirus falls under the scope of “extraordinary circumstances” and whether an airline is liable to compensate a passenger or is exempted from such duty is made on a case-by-case basis and ultimately under the authority of the Court of Justice of the European Union12. A similar case to the current situation was the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull on 20 March 2010, which led to the closure of air space and affected millions of passengers whose flights were cancelled. The CJEU regarded this situation as an “extraordinary circumstance” in its Judgment of 31 January 2013 - Denise McDonagh v Ryanair Ltd (case C-12/11) and pointed out that all circumstances which are beyond the actual control of the airline could be regarded as extraordinary, whatever their nature or gravity. The situation we are currently facing is not identical to the situation of the volcanic eruption since, in the COVID-19 crisis, Governments advise against travel to particular destinations. For instance, if a flight has been cancelled as a result of a ban imposed in a particular country, the air carrier may be able to argue that no reasonable measures were available to it under the circumstances. This fact might be viewed as an “extraordinary circumstance”, and the relative compensation might not be deemed to be payable. Moreover, if the air carrier decides to cancel a flight and proves that this decision was justified on the grounds of protecting the health of the crew, such cancellation may also be considered as caused by extraordinary circumstances. Conversely, if a flight has been cancelled voluntarily and not as a result of a travel ban, i.e. because of a drop in market demand or health issues at the destination, the air carrier might face difficulty in proving that all reasonable measures were taken to avoid the cancellation. It is clear that general answers cannot be given and that each case does not necessarily fall under the context of “extraordinary circumstance”, needing to be examined on its own merits and the relevant facts, as it depends on the specific circumstances. On the 18 March 2020, the European Commission published interpretative guidelines on how specific provisions of the EU passenger rights legislation should be applied in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic13. The guidelines 12 European Commission, Press conference at the ERCC ECHO by President Ursula von der Leyen, and Commissioners Janez Lenarcic, Stella Kyriakides, Ylva Johansson, Adina Valean, and Paolo Gentiloni on the EU's response to COVID-19, [video], 2 March 2020. Available in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2cXDUWz-zE&feature=youtu.be (accessed on 10/03/2020). 13 European Commission, Communication from the Commission - Interpretative Guidelines on EU passenger rights regulations in the context of the developing situation with Covid-19, Brussels, C(2020) 1830 final, 18 March 2020. Available in: https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites/transport/files/legislation/c20201830_en.pdf (accessed on 26/04/2020).
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