Kevin O'Toole/LONDON
US AIRLINES HAVE become the latest to put their signature to an inter-carrier agreement which should see the scrapping of all passenger-liability limits within the next year.
Under the new agreement, which was endorsed at the International Air Transport Association (IATA) annual general meeting at the end of October, passengers will be able to make unlimited claims under their national law regardless of where they are flying.
The agreement marks a victory for the USA, which has made clear that it wanted to give its citizens the right to claim unlimited damages on any international flights at the same level as they already can within the USA (Flight International, 12-18 July).
Existing limits on airline liability for passenger death or injury claims range from as little as $10,000 under the 66-year-old Warsaw Convention, through to around $150,000, depending on the carrier.
The USA and Japan had already made provision for unlimited compensation, while other countries were threatening to break ranks unless an updated international agreement was put in place.
In an attempt to maintain the consensus, IATA held a conference in Washington in June, which had recommended raising the Warsaw Convention limits to a more realistic $350,000. The US had signaled that it would continue to oppose any attempts to limit the rights of US citizens, however.
The new agreement effectively bows to the US aim by removing limits, in favour of "full compensatory recoverable damages".
Twelve major carriers signed the agreement on 31 October at the end of the IATA meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. US airlines are understood to have followed suit a week later, effectively clearing the way for international adoption of the new rules by November 1996.
Technically, the agreement will only come into law as it receives approval by governments around the world, but IATA expects this to be a formality. It adds that the new rules are anyway likely to have an immediate bearing on cases now going through the courts.
IATA plays down fears that insurance premiums may rise as a result of scrapping limits, pointing out that the previous system had led to a series of protracted and expensive legal battles as claimants had sought to get around the liability cap by proving "willful negligence".
Concerns remain among airlines in developing countries, especially in Africa, which now faces the possibility, of paying out heavy claims from Japanese, US or other Western passengers.
IATA says that efforts will be stepped up to help African carriers lower their heavy premiums by uniting to buy insurance.
Source: Flight International
