According to a European General Court judgement, a carrier cannot claim that extraordinary circumstances – resulting in a flight delay – should also apply to a subsequent flight, if that flight is delayed by an autonomous decision.

The ruling from the General Court follows referral of a case in Germany involving the carrier European Air Charter, brought by two passengers who sought compensation over delays to a Dusseldorf-Varna service in July 2022.

Prior to this flight the aircraft was scheduled to fly Cologne-Varna and then Varna-Dusseldorf.

But a heavy workload at Cologne airport passenger security led to an exceptionally long waiting time before boarding.

European Air Charter made the decision to wait for these passengers and the Cologne-Varna flight was delayed by more than 5h.

The airline opted to use a replacement aircraft to operate the Varna-Dusseldorf sector, but this required obtaining landing clearance, and the result was a delay of more than 3h for the subsequent Dusseldorf-Varna flight – the subject of the compensation claim.

As it considered the case, a Dusseldorf regional court queried the General Court as to whether the airline’s autonomous decision to wait for the Cologne passengers prevents it from relying on the ‘extraordinary circumstance’ defence.

“That decision is capable of breaking the direct causal link,” the General Court ruled on 4 March, provided that the airline was not obliged to make the decision – a matter which the German court needs to ascertain.