6/30/23, 1:49 PM European Airlines Will Have to Compensate Passengers Delayed By Major NATO Exercise That Will Simulate

mulate 'Article 5' Incid…

European Airlines Will Have

to Compensate Passengers
Delayed By Major NATO
Exercise That Will Simulate
'Article 5' Incident
European airlines have been told that
they will have to compensate
passengers who might get caught up in
significant disruption as a result of a
massive NATO military exercise that will
stretch across Germany, Czechia, the
Netherlands and Romania from June 12
to June 24.

By Mateusz Maszczynski

3 min. read View original

European airlines have been told that they will

have to compensate passengers who might get
caught up in significant disruption as a result of
a massive NATO military exercise that will
stretch across Germany, Czechia, the
Netherlands and Romania from June 12 to June
24.

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6/30/23, 1:49 PM European Airlines Will Have to Compensate Passengers Delayed By Major NATO Exercise That Will Simulate 'Article 5' Incid…

Air forces from 24 nations will take part in the

exercise, which will simulate a so-called ‘Article
5’ scenario. Article 5 of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) defines the concept
that an attack on one member is an attack on
all members and will result in a collective
response.

Over 220 aircraft will take part in the ‘Air

Defender 2023’ exercise, including assets from
the United States and United Kingdom, Japan,
and Turkey, as well as a slew of European
nations, coordinated by the German air force.

NATO says it is attempting to reduce the

impact on civilian flights during the exercise,
but airlines are concerned that military
operations across such a large swathe of
Europe could result in air traffic control
restrictions which will quickly have a knock-on
effect across the while continent.

Under European law, airlines are required to

pay compensation to passengers in the even of
a significant delay unless the disruption is due
to an ‘extraordinary circumstance’.

The definition of ‘extraordinary circumstance’

has been tested in European courts for years
but the question of whether airlines could claim
a military exercise as an extraordinary
circumstance has never been answered.

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That is, until now. In a recent ruling, Europe’s

Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport
has concluded that any delays resulting from
the Air Defender exercise will be eligible for
compensation under the EU’s air passenger
rights legislation.

The EU261 rules entitle passengers to

compensation if their flight arrives more than
three hours late than scheduled. Depending on
the length of flights, passengers can claim
between €250 and €600:

1,500 km or less €250

More than 1,500 km with the EU
Or between 1,500 km and 3,500 km for all other €400
flights
More than 3,500 km €600

The rules apply to all EU-registered airlines no

matter where the flight is operating in the
world, while the rules also apply to non-EU
airlines if they are operating flights to or from
the EU.

It’s still possible that the exercise will pass off

without much disruption of regular commercial
flights, but the International Air Transport
Association (IATA) has slammed the decision
by Europe’s transport commission, saying it
“should not fall on airlines to pay EU 261
compensation if air navigation service
providers start imposing capacity reductions on
airlines less than two weeks before scheduled
dates of travel”.
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6/30/23, 1:49 PM European Airlines Will Have to Compensate Passengers Delayed By Major NATO Exercise That Will Simulate 'Article 5' Incid…

NATO says it will try to limit the impact on

commercial flights by limiting exercise periods
to between two and four hours in each area.
During these times, however, the areas will be
completely closed to civilian flights.

In a statement, a spokesperson said NATO was

working with air traffic control authorities to
“minimise the effects on civilian air traffic as
much as possible.”

Mateusz Maszczynski

Mateusz Maszczynski honed his skills as an

international flight attendant at the most
prominent airline in the Middle East and has
been flying throughout the COVID-19 pandemic
for a well-known European airline. Matt is
passionate about the aviation industry and has
become an expert in passenger experience and
human-centric stories. Always keeping an ear
close to the ground, Matt's industry insights,
analysis and news coverage is frequently relied
upon by some of the biggest names in
journalism.

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