The impact of the Corona pandemic (Covide 19) on the carrier's contractual liability for delaying or canceling transport flights “Critical Analysis of Bahraini Civil Aviation Law issued by virtue of Law No. 14 of 2013 and the Civil law”

Abstract

Corona Pandemic and its implications  have direct impacts on many sectors, one of which is aviation sector. There is no doubt that the contractual obligations between the parties to the contract of carriage of passengers or goods by air have accordingly been affected.

For that, a legal controversy was raised among jurists following the appearance of the virus in China and its spread in most countries over the world.  The controversy was about the eligibility of airlines, that were forced to stop their activities in the implementation of the precautionary measures and decisions taken by governments around the world, to rely on these measures and decisions to justify their contract terminations or the postponement of implementing their commitments on the agreed dates. 

In fact, some jurists have considered epidemics, including Corona Virus, as a force majeure with which it is impossible to implement obligations. Thus airlines can be exempted from liability by relying on force majeure cause . Whereas other insists that the epidemics are unforeseen circumstances that do not make the implementation of the obligation impossible but lead to postponing it.  According to their view, they consider the possibility of implementing the “unforeseen circumstance theory” on carriage contracts when conditions are met.  A third opinion thinks that the reasons behind preventing airlines from implementing their obligations under the Corona Pandemic are not the virus itself, but the governments’ measures against the spread of the virus which can be characterized as “third party act” and a form of an external cause.