The carrier's and operator's liability toward passengers, cargo and third parties on the ground, framed by a two-tier international regime.
Aviation liability breaks down into three exposures of different nature, which policies handle under a single combined limit. Toward passengers, the Montreal Convention of 1999 sets up a two-tier regime: up to a ceiling expressed in special drawing rights the carrier is strictly liable and can raise no defense other than the victim's own fault; above it, liability remains unlimited but the carrier may escape by proving it was not negligent. Toward cargo and baggage, liability is capped per kilogram, a limit that only a special declaration of interest in delivery can raise. Toward third parties on the ground, no international regime ever took hold, the Rome Convention of 1952 remaining thinly ratified, so that each national law applies and policies are sized on the worst urban scenario rather than on a statutory ceiling. The problem this structure solves is the mismatch between the price of a ticket and the cost of a mass casualty loss.
The strict liability ceiling toward passengers, revised every five years for inflation, rose from 100,000 special drawing rights in 1999 to 113,100 in 2009, 128,821 on December 28, 2019 and 151,880 on December 28, 2024: an increase of more than half in twenty-five years, which bites on every bodily injury file without any contract being renegotiated.
RC aérienne, responsabilité du transporteur aérien