CJEU Advocate General: bird strikes do not constitute ‘extraordinary circumstances’

In an opinion delivered on July 28, 2016, CJEU Advocate General Bot has concluded that bird strikes do not fall within the extraordinary circumstances defence currently available to air carriers according to Article 5 para 3 of Reg. (EC) 261/2004. In the Advocate General’s opinion, such incidents are inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of an air carrier and therefore not ‘extraordinary’. Although an opinion of an Advocate Genrral is not binding to the Court but only advisory in nature, the judges in most cases follow the recommedations expressed therein. The CJEU judgement is to be expedcted within the next months.Unfortunately, the opinion in case C-315/15 – Marcela Pešková, Jiří Peška -v- Travel Service as is not available in English yet.

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