Examples of our experience in wider disputes relating to the aviation industry:
Commercial disputes
- Acting for Ryanair in ongoing complicated and high value litigation in the English High Court brought by two online travel agents, On The Beach and Travel Republic, involving complex issues of competition law and the application of the UK Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018.
- Represented Ryanair DAC in English Commercial Court litigation involving the car hire company Hertz Europe, a case that was listed as one of The Lawyer's top 20 cases for 2018.
Judicial review proceedings
- Represented Ryanair DAC in judicial review proceedings brought against the UK Civil Aviation Authority in the English Administrative Court relating to the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme administered by the CAA concerning passenger claims.
- Acted for Ryanair DAC as an Interested Party in the judicial review challenge of the 'Traffic Light' travel restrictions imposed by the Secretary of State for Transport during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Accidents and investigations
- Acted on numerous accident investigations, minor incidents, and major air disasters, including the Lockerbie investigation and trial, and in relation to fatal accident inquiries and coroner's inquests.
- Advised an airline and an aircraft lessor in relation to various issues arising out of the Boeing MAX 737 groundings including with reference to the air accident investigation process and aircraft leases.
Insurance
- Acting for an insurer in defending claims brought by lessors of aircraft in respect of alleged loss of assets leased to Russian airlines following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- Acted for a private-jet charter operator in commencing ad-hoc arbitration under the English Arbitration Act 1996 against its Aviation Hull All Risk insurer relating to amounts withheld/deducted by the insurer following an accident in which the aircraft was adjusted as a total loss.
Restructuring and insolvency
- Advised Singapore-based Transportation Partners on the restructuring of the Indonesian airline group, Lion Air, over a period 18 months in a project that involved over 200 aircraft and around 50 lessor groups. The London disputes team, working closely with our Singapore and Paris teams, defended English High Court proceedings brought by Goshawk in relation to rent defaults caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Advised a US operating lessor on matters relating to the restructuring of Virgin Atlantic, the first restructuring undertaken pursuant to the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020. (Airline Economics European Recapitalisation Deal of the Year 2021, Airfinance Journal Europe Deal of the Year 2021 and IFLR Europe Restructuring Deal of the Year 2021).
- Advised various aircraft lessors in respect of several airline restructurings including MAB Leasing, Air Asia X and Garuda.
- Advised several international operating lessors on matters related to the insolvency of Thomas Cook Airlines and the administration of Flybe.
- Advised aircraft lessors in respect of the restructuring of Hong Kong Airlines by way of parallel proceedings under a Hong Kong scheme and English restructuring plan undertaken pursuant to the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020.
- Acted for the minority shareholder of an aeronautical subcontractor in various disputes following a governance crisis and appointment of an interim administrator in a restructuring context.
