Research On Collateral Obligations Of Carrier In Air Passenger Transport Contract

In recent years,China's civil aviation passenger traffic has continued to grow.According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics,the total number of passengers transported by China's civil aviation industry was 487.96 million in 2016,a year-on-year growth rate of nearly 12%.At the same time as the rapid development of the civil aviation industry,disputes and lawsuits between the passengers and the carriers occur from time to time.The collateral obligation is an important theory of the obligation in the development of the contractual relationship.The existence of the obligation is to assist the realization of the principal payment obligation and protect the interests of the parties.In order to ease the contradiction between the passenger and the carrier,and balance the interests between them,it is extremely important that the carrier's collateral obligations be fulfilled in the air passenger transport contract.At present,China's civil aviation industry develops at a faster rate,and the specific provisions of the current civil aviation industry legislation concerning the collateral obligations of air carriers are not perfect.Therefore,this article mainly focuses on the legal issues concerning the collateral obligations of air carriers and the following four parts will be discussed:The first part is an overview of the collateral obligations of air carriers.Firstly,the academic community definition of the connotation of the collateral obligation from different angles are introduced,then combined the institutional values of the collateral obligations,we obtain the concept of collateral obligations of the air carrier.Then discuss the air carrier's pre-contract obligations,the collateral obligations in the performance of the contract and post contract obligations.Based on the particularity of the airline passenger transport industry,it is demonstrated that the collateral obligations of the air passenger transport contract are mainly assumed by the carrier to be more reasonable.The second part discusses the specific types of collateral obligations of air carriers.Combining the existing legal provisions,judicial practice cases,disputes in real life,and the successful experiences of the developed countries such as the European Union and the United States,this paper elaborate thoroughly on the obligation of notification of overbooking of flights,notifying delays or cancellations of flights,informing visas for outbound transit passengers,assisting the carrier's accommodation,assisting the disabled passengers,and the confidentiality of carriers' information,etc.The third part elaborates the principle of identifying the collateral obligations of air carriers,including three principles : the principle of close contact,the principle of interest measurement,and the principle of preventing improper expansion.Then it discusses the carrier's collateral obligation identification method,sums up the identification method as the prior application of the existing legal provisions,combines the principle of good faith,and uses the industry's habits as a reference.The fourth part elaborates the legal consequences of the air carrier for violating the collateral obligations.Combining the identified experience in the judicial practice of civil aviation passenger transport industry,this paper demonstrates the nature of the liability of the air carrier in violation of the collateral obligation from the three stages of collateral duty generation.In the end,we introduce the relief when the air carrier violate the collateral obligations,mainly including compensation to damages,specific performance,and cancellation of the contract.