In the law of the Republic of Serbia, contractual and tort relations in air transport are governed by the OBLIGATIONS AND THE BASICS OF PROPERTY RELATIONS IN AIR TRANSPORT ACT (RS Official Gazette, No. 87/2011 and 66/2015), hereinafter referred to as “Act”. One of the matters provided for by this Act is the matter of compensation owed by air carriers to passengers in the event of denied boarding and cancellation or long delay of flights. Such situations are not uncommon, which is why the Act guarantees to passengers who find themselves in such situations the right to compensation, among other rights. We will specifically enumerate the rights of passengers in the event of long delay of flights that are possibly open to debate from the point of view of passenger rights under the Act.
The Act provides in Article 11 that in case of flight delay, passengers are entitled to assistance, specified under Art. 14 of the Act, in the form of refreshments, meals and telephone calls. This particular Article of the Act does not provide for the right of passengers to compensation, i.e., it does not refer to Art. 12 of the Act which governs the right of passengers to compensation in detail. However, it should be taken into account that the domestic Act is completely harmonised with the regulations of the European Union governing this particular subject matter, specifically Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights, and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 295/91 (OJ L 46. 17.2.2004.), hereinafter referred to as “Regulation”.
The Regulation stipulates that in the event of flight delay, an operating air carrier shall provide assistance to passengers. However, in case that a flight is delayed for at least three hours, there are grounds for exercising the same rights in terms of compensation as in the case of cancellation of a flight, which is consistent with the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, hereinafter referred to as “CJEU”. With regard to long delays, the CJEU has ruled those passengers whose flight is delayed may experience similar inconveniences or time lost as passengers whose flights have been cancelled. Passengers affected by a delay of three hours or more at their final destination are entitled to the same amount of compensation as passengers whose flight has been cancelled. This is also supported by Commission Notice – Interpretative Guidelines on Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights, which stipulates those passengers have the right to compensation in the event of long delay of flights.
Our Act provides for the right to compensation in the event of flight cancellation in the same manner as the EU Regulation mentioned above. We are, therefore, of the opinion that the meaning and context of that Act are such that passengers to whom our Act applies also have the right to receive compensation in case of long delay of flights. Since the Act is fully harmonised with the EU Regulation, Serbian citizens experiencing long delay of flights should enjoy the same rights and legal protection as citizens of EU Member States.
