Research On Torts Of Unruly Passengers In International Air Transportation

With the rapid development of civil aviation, aircraft has been one of the indispensable vehicles in the international communication. The aviation safety is not a problem that can be ignored. However, more and more unruly and disruptive behaviors happening during the air transportation are reported. Nowadays, unruly passengers have become the emerging challenge for airline industry. Some behaviors, which are common in daily life, will result in serious injury to other passengers and crew, and can be a threat to the safety of the aircraft. Thus, we need to pay great attention to the actions of unruly passengers.Since the international air transportation has involved more than one country, it differs from the domestic air transportation. Definitely, it is more challenging when deal with the torts caused by unruly passengers during the international air transportation. Researches on aviation torts mainly focus on the torts caused by aircraft crash and collision. However, this paper will lay emphasis on the torts of unruly passengers. At first, it will give definition to international air transportation and unruly passengers, and summaries the characteristics of unruly behaviors. Then, this paper will discuss the liable parties in torts. The next two parts are of great importance, which contains analysis of the jurisdiction and the application of law in the tort action. Based on the international conventions, relevant aviation laws of other countries and the cases, this paper aims to find out whether carrier is the liable party in the torts of unruly passengers, and to confirm the courts with jurisdiction and the law applied in the juridical process.In addition, the Civil Aviation Law of China has been in force for about twenty years. Some provisions can't meet the requirements of modern civil aviation transportation industry and deal with torts of unruly passengers effectively. Therefore, the last part of this paper will focus on the suggestion referred to the modification of aviation laws in China to make the unruly passengers and other liable parties properly punished.