CIVIL AVIATION (IDENTITY OF AIR CARRIER) ORDER (identityofaircarrier)

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 499.48

CIVIL AVIATION (IDENTITY OF AIR CARRIER)

ORDER

31st July, 2007

LEGAL NOTICE 205 of 2007, as amended by Legal Notice 411 of 2007

and Act VIII of 2010.

The title of this Order is the Civil Aviation (Identity of Air

Carrier) Order.

In this Order, unless the context requires otherwise

requires

"air carrier" means an air transport undertaking with a valid

operator licence or equivalent;

"contract of carriage" means a contract for or including air

transport services, including one where the carriage is composed of

two or more flights operated by the same or different air carriers;

"air carriage contractor" means the carrier which concludes a

contract of carriage with a passenger or, where the contract

comprises a package, the tour operator. Any ticket seller shall also

be deemed an air carriage contractor;

"the Community" means the European Union;

"Community List" means the List of air carriers that are subject

to an operating ban within the Community as set out by Regulation

(EC) No. 2111/2005;

"Directive 90/314/EEC" means the Council Directive of 13 June

1990 on package travel, package holidays and package tours;

"Director" means the Director of Civil Aviation and, to the extent

of the authority given, any person authorised in that behalf by the

Director;

"EC Regulation 261/2004" means the European Parliament and

Council Regulation 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 (EC) No 295/91;

"operating air carrier" means an air carrier that performs or

intends to perform a flight under a contract of carriage with a

passenger, or on behalf of another person, legal or natural, having a

contract of carriage with that passenger;

"operating ban" means the refusal, suspension, revocation or

restriction of an air carrier’s operating authorisation or technical

permission for safety reasons, or any equivalent safety measures in

r e s p e c t o f a n a i r c a r r i e r w h i c h h a s n o t r a ff i c r i g h t s i n t h e

Community but whose aircraft might otherwise be operated in the

Community under a lease agreement;

"package" means those services defined in Article 2(1) of

Directive 90/314/EEC;

"Regulation EEC No. 2299/89" means Council Regulation (EEC)

No. 2299/89 of 24 July 1989 on a Code of conduct for

Computerised Reservation Systems;

"reservation" means the fact that the passenger has a ticket or

other proof, which indicates that the reservation has been accepted

and registered by the air carriage contractor;

"ticket seller" means the seller of an air ticket who arranges a

contract of carriage with a passenger, whether for a flight on its

own or as part of a package, other than an air carrier or a tour

operator.

(1) The provisions of this Order shall apply to the carriage

of passengers by air, when the flight is part of a contract of carriage

and that carriage started from a Member State of the Community,

and -

(a) the flight departs from an airport in Malta, or

(b) the flight departs from an airport in a non-Community

country and arrives in Malta, or

(c) the flight is operated by a Maltese air carrier and

departs from an airport in a third country to another

such airport.

(2) The provisions of subarticle (1) shall apply to both

scheduled and non-scheduled flights irrespectively of whether the

flight is part of a package or otherwise.

(1) The air carriage contractor shall upon making a

reservation for a passenger inform him of the identity of the

operating air carrier or carriers, whatever the means used to make

the reservation.

(2) When the identity of the operating air carrier is not yet

known at the time of reservation, the air carriage contractor shall

ensure that the passenger is informed of the name or names of the

air carrier or carriers that is or are likely to act as operating air

carrier or carriers on the flight or flights concerned. In such case

the air carriage contractor shall ensure that the passenger is

informed of the identity of the operating air carrier or carriers as

soon as their identity is established.

(3) Wherever the operating air carrier or carriers is or are

changed after reservation, the air carriage contractor shall,

irrespective of the reason of the change, take immediately all

appropriate steps to ensure that the passenger is informed of the

change as soon as possible. In all cases, passengers shall be

informed at check-in, or on boarding where no check-in is required

for a connecting flight.

(4) The air carrier or the tour operator, as the case may be, shall

ensure that the relevant air carriage contractor is informed of the

identity of the operating air carrier or carriers as soon as this is

known, in particular in the event of a change of such identity.

(5)

The obligation of the air carriage contractor to inform

passengers of the identity of the operating air carrier or carriers

shall be specified in the general terms of sale applicable to the

contract of carriage.

(1) In cases where EC Regulation 261/2004, does not

apply, and -

2004. (a) the operating air carrier notified to the passenger has

been entered on the Community list and is subject to

an operating ban which has led to the cancellation of

the flight concerned, or which would have led to such

cancellation if the flight concerned had been operated

in the Community; or

(b) the operating air carrier notified to the passenger has

been replaced by another operating air carrier which

has been entered on the Community list and is subject

to an operating ban which has led to the cancellation of

the flight concerned, or which would have led to such

cancellation if the flight concerned had been operated

in the Community,

the air carriage contractor which is party to the contract of carriage

shall offer the passenger the right to reimbursement or re-routing in

accordance with Article 8 of EC Regulation 261/2004, provided

that, when the flight has not been cancelled, the passenger has

chosen not to take that flight.

(2) Subarticle (1) shall apply without prejudice to the

provisions of Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004.

Nothing in this Order shall affect the rights of passengers

under the provisions of Directive 90/314/EEC and Regulation EEC

No. 2299/89.

(1) In the event that an air carriage contractor does not

comply with the provisions of article 4 and a passenger makes a

complaint in that sense to the Director, it shall be for the air

carriage contractor to prove that compliance with the provisions of

article 4 was effected and it shall be a defence for that air carriage

contractor to show that he took all reasonable steps to avoid

committing the offence.

(2) An air carriage contractor shall not be entitled to rely on the

defence provided by subarticle (1) by reason of his reliance on

information supplied by another, unless the air carriage contractor

against whom proceedings have been commenced demonstrates

that it was reasonable in all the circumstances to have relied on the

information in question.

(3) If a ticket seller has not been informed of the identity of the

operating air carrier, he shall not be responsible for not complying

with the obligations provided for in this subarticle.

An air carriage contractor, who does not comply with

article 4(1), (2), (3) and (5) shall be deemed to be in contravention

of the Order.

A person who contravenes any provisions of this Order

shall on summary conviction be liable to a fine (multa) of not less

than two hundred and thirty-two euros and ninety-four cents

(232.94) and not more than one thousand and one hundred and

sixty-four euros and sixty-nine cents (1,164.69).