The liability of air carriers for spread of communicable viruses With emphasis on Covid 19 pandemic

The advantages of air transportation in terms of human welfare, economicgrowth and social integration are outstanding and undeniable. However, thehigh speed of aircraft has made such means of transportation as the mainfactor of spreading viruses and communicable diseases among the countries.Spread of Covid-19 virus from China to other countries by aircraft and thedisruptive role of some airlines in this regard necessitated a re-thinking ofthe air carriers; liability. Regardless of the social liability of air carriers, theircivil liability for spread of virus between the passengers has becomecontroversial among the scholars. The basic issue to deal with is that on whatconditions an air carrier might be held liable for such spread of virus. Acomprehensive analysis of this issue, requires a re-thinking of the concept of“sinister/occurrence” within air transportation under article 17 of WarsawConvention 1929 or Montreal Convention 1999, further to the generalobligations of air carriers for compliance with the relevant healthrequirements.