Ryanair loses battle over volcanic ash payout

Updated
Ryanair loses battle over volcanic ash payout to passengers for hotels, meals and drinks
Ryanair loses battle over volcanic ash payout to passengers for hotels, meals and drinks

PA



Low-cost airline Ryanair has lost the latest round in its legal battle to avoid paying for hotels, meals and drinks to passengers who were affected by delays due to the Icelandic volcano erupting in 2010.

The European Court of Justice's advocate general Yves Bot said that airlines were obliged to pay the costs incurred by its passengers whose flights were disrupted by 'extraordinary circumstances' like the volcano.

Ryanair's argument was that the closure of airspace from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupting was so extraordinary that the rules shouldn't apply.

The advocate general said: 'In everyday language, the term 'extraordinary circumstances' refers to all circumstances over which the air carrier has no control: an event which is not inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of the air carrier concerned and is beyond the actual control of that carrier on account of its nature or origin.

'In the view of the Advocate General, all events which meet that description are bracketed together under a single notion, leaving no room for a separate category of 'particularly extraordinary' events which would fully release the air carrier from its obligations.'

Airlines are obliged by EU law to provide passengers with hotels and accommodation when flights are cancelled due to events that are beyond their control.

The full court will deliver a final verdict this year.

The Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in March 2010 and created an ash cloud, closing most areas of European airspace between 15 and 23 April.

Ryanair offered refunds for tickets of stranded passengers and processed 'reasonable expense claims' costing the airline around 32 million euros.

The legal battle began in the Dublin Metropolitan District Court, with Denise McDonagh of Dublin saying that she spent £1,000 on accommodation, food and transport during her seven-day wait for a Ryanair flight from Faro to Dublin.

Ryanair refused to pay the full amount and argued the case in the hope of changing what it believed were 'discriminatory' EU rules. McDonagh sued the airline for 1,129 euros, the costs she incurred from the cancellation.

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