21.2.2022   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84/14


Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 21 December 2021 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Landesgericht Korneuburg — Austria) — Airhelp Limited v Laudamotion GmbH

(Case C-263/20) (1)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Air transport - Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 - Common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of cancellation or long delay of flights - Article 2(l) - Article 5(1)(c) - Flight booked through an online platform - Flight departure time brought forward by the operating air carrier - Classification - Receipt of notification of the flight being brought forward sent to an electronic address not belonging to the passengers concerned - Directive 2000/31/EC - Electronic commerce - Article 11 - Presumption of receipt - Scope of the operating air carrier’s obligation to provide information)

(2022/C 84/15)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Landesgericht Korneuburg

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Airhelp Limited

Defendant: Laudamotion GmbH

Operative part of the judgment

1.

Article 2(l) and Article 5(1)(c) of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights, and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 295/91, must be interpreted as meaning that a flight is regarded as being ‘cancelled’ in the case where the operating air carrier brings that flight forward by more than one hour;

2.

Compliance with the requirement to inform the passenger in good time of the cancellation of his or her flight must be assessed solely in accordance with Article 5(1)(c) of Regulation No 261/2004, read in conjunction with Article 5(4) of that regulation;

3.

Article 5(1)(c)(i) of Regulation No 261/2004 must be interpreted as meaning that an air passenger who reserved a flight through an intermediary is to be regarded as not having been informed of the cancellation of that flight in the case where, although the operating air carrier transmitted the information relating to that cancellation to that intermediary, through which the contract of carriage by air was concluded with that passenger, at least two weeks before the scheduled time of departure, that intermediary did not inform the passenger of that cancellation within the period referred to in that provision and that passenger did not expressly authorise that intermediary to receive the information transmitted by that operating air carrier.


(1)  OJ C 279, 24.8.2020.