In her opinion regarding case C-173/07 (Emirates Airlines v Schenkel) published 6. March 2008 Advocate General Sharpston came to the following conclusion:Passengers on a return flight from a third country to a Member State are not ‘passengers departing from an airport located in the territory of a Member State’ within the meaning of Article 3(1)(a) of Regulation No 261/2004, and are hence not within the personal scope of that regulation if the operating air carrier of the flight concerned is not a Community carrier, even if the outward and return flights were booked at the same time.Her reasoning is mainly based on interpretation of the wording of the regulation and historical considerations in regard to the legislation process.The full text of the opinion can be found here.PS: first information to IFTTA provided by Stephan Keiler.