Publications

The aviation industry faces a number of challenges in 2020 – from sustainability and digitisation to the potential fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak. In this series, ILO caught up with some of our leading specialists around the world to discuss the three main aviation issues affecting their jurisdiction in 2020.  Insolvency has been a topical …

In order to be enforceable and ensure priority against third parties, Article L6122-8 of the Transport Code provides that aircraft mortgages must be registered with the French Aircraft Registry, which is held by the Registration Office (Bureau Immatriculation) of the French Civil Aviation Authority. (DGAC). In accordance with Article R122-1 of the Civil Aviation Code, …

Introduction While first-demand guarantees (also called independent guarantees (garantie autonome)) are well known and widely used in structured or cross-border financing (eg, aircraft financing), they were initially a legal concept created in the late 1970s by practice and case law alongside the growing internationalisation of business and the development of new security instruments in other …

Introduction In civil law jurisdictions it is generally thought that courts interpret law that pre-dates their decisions. In a decision rendered on 13 April 2018, the Court of Cassation decided to bring longstanding jurisprudence in line with recent legislation. This decision related to a finance lease agreement for a truck; however, the court’s decision would …

The Court of Cassation recently rendered an important decision regarding manufacturers’ liability.(1) The decision concerned the Air Asia Airbus A 320 which crashed in the Java Sea in December 2014, killing all crew and passengers on board. The Indonesian and French air accident investigators’ report indicated that a defect in the rudder travel limit unit …

French drone legislation was recently updated to require individuals who fly drones for leisure purposes (known as’telepilots’)(1) to undergo specific training. In addition, Law 2016-1428 on enhancing drone operational safetyrecently entered into force.(2) Among other things, Law 2016-1428 requires: telepilots who fly drones weighing more than 800g to undergo mandatory training; and certain civil drones …

On 8 November 2018 a Ryanair-operated Boeing 737 was arrested at Bordeaux-Merignac Airport. While commercial aircraft are sometimes arrested in France, these are rarely operated by major airlines with Europe-wide operations. The arrest of Ryanair’s aircraft thus deserves attention. While developing its French network, Ryanair received support from various regional airports in France, including theMixed …

Since the 1930s, French regulation has made it clear that parties to domestic contracts must make payments usingFrench currency. While there was an exception to this rule for international payments, the criteria for making international payments were unclear. This had a direct impact on the aviation industry. In 2016 French contract law was restructured to …

Introduction On 7 March 2018 the Supreme Court for Administrative Law heard a case where no choice needed to be made – anairplane engine and a bird had collided and met their respective fates. Bird strikes are not uncommon in civil aviation: every year there are approximately 5,000 to 6,000 incidents costing$1.2 billion worldwide. But …