A Comparative Study On The Air Passenger Personal Injury Damages System Between China And The United States

With the development of air transportation technology and the growing demand for air transportation,air transportation has gradually become an increasingly important part in people's lives.On the one hand,the development of air transport has brought many opportunities for the economic growth of the entire society,but it has also caused many challenges.In terms of law,there are many imperfections or even gaps in the laws and regulations for the adjustment of the emerging industry in China.There is an urgent need to add or delete some legal provisions to ensure the balance between the development of the air transport industry and the personal rights of air passengers.The issue of compensation for personal injury in the air transport accident has been concerned by scholars in the field of aviation law for a long time.Recently,people pay much attention to the compensation problem in some major air crashes.This paper will compare the system of personal injury compensation for air passengers between China and the United States and try to find some useful tips and make some innovative suggestions for Chinese aviation law.The first chapter of this article introduces the current situations of international air passengers' personal injury compensation which manifest the difference in the amount of damages in different countries.Through the case of Lu Hong v.United Airlines,Inc.,the author find some key elements such as the scope of damage,damages calculating method,liability limitation and punitive damages which may affect the assessment of damages in airline accidents.Then the following chapters would compare these elements between China and the US.The second chapter of this article mainly conducts a comparative study on the determination of the scope of personal damage to air passengers,explores the differences in the ways of damage identification between China and the US.And then this part also evaluates the reasonable regulations in the US and demonstrates our issues,such as the lack of provisions on air passengers' mental damages compensation in aviation laws,concept confusion between mental damage and general damage,etc.Based on the previous analysis of the scope of damage,the third chapter mainly compare the calculation methods of the personal injury compensations in air crash between China and the United States.This part mainly argues damage calculation method and unlimited liability system in the US.And finally,it compares and evaluates the advanced methods of personal compensation for air passengers in the US and the main issues in China's current method and air carrier limited liability.The fourth chapter of this article introduces the punitive liability system in the United States.In the domestic civil aviation damages cases,the subject can not only claim punitive damages against the air carrier by applying the US product punitive damage regulation but also the personal injury punitive damage regulation.But in China,the air passengers can not possibly obtain the punitive damages from the air carrier.Finally,this part also mention the legitimacy of the US punitive damages to air carriers and the exact legal reason why our country do not design such system.On the basis of the comparative analysis of the foregoing three factors,the final chapter of this article puts forward some suggestions for improving China's air passenger personal injury compensation system.For example,the legal institutes should make a clear definition of “personal injury or death ” in China's Civil Aviation Law,abolish air carrier liability limitation,and learn from the damage calculation method and air carrier punitive compensation system in the US.