Section 17 of the Air Navigation and Transport Act, 1988 enables me to impose an obligation on owners or operators of aircraft to provide for their liabilities in relation to loss or damage arising from the operation of their aircraft.
In addition to the section of the Act referred to, there are already extensive arrangements in place to ensure adequate cover for the type of liability concerned. As regards commercial services, all States whose carriers operate scheduled air services to or from Ireland are signatories to the Warsaw Convention as amended by the Hague protocol. The Convention lays down a standardised international code governing the liability of carriers.
In the case of non-scheduled services, most services are operated to or from states which are also signatories to the Warsaw Convention. Nevertheless, every applicant for an authorisation to operate non-scheduled services is required to provide a copy of a valid certificate of insurance showing that the operator carries adequate insurance, which in most cases exceeds the limits prescribed by the Warsaw Convention.
All Aer Lingus services are automatically authorised under section 7 of the Air Navigation and Transport Act, 1965, and the company maintain a passenger liability of 100,000 SDRs — special drawing rights — equivalent to IR£81,680 at current exchange rates. The special drawing right is an international unit of account established by the International Monetary Fund. All other Irish carriers are required to hold an authorisation under the Air Navigation and Transport Act, 1965. It is a condition of such authorisation that the holder has a special contract with each passenger limiting the liability of the carrier to the Irish pound equivalent of 100,000 SDRs.
In relation to private aircraft, the present position is that, as it the case in most other European states, there is no statutory requirement on the owners or operators of private aircraft to insure against liability for loss or damage arising from the operation of the aircraft. Section 17 of the Air Navigation Act was inserted in order to enable me to make an order requiring owners/operators of private aircraft to provide insurance cover against such liability, and the preparation of the necessary order is being actively pursued in my Department.
