Request for a preliminary ruling from the Landgericht Hamburg (Germany) lodged on 16 December 2019 — GDVI Verbraucherhilfe GmbH v Swiss International Air Lines AG
(Case C-918/19)
Language of the case: German
Referring court
Landgericht Hamburg
Parties to the main proceedings
Applicant: GDVI Verbraucherhilfe GmbH
Defendant: Swiss International Air Lines AG
Questions referred
Is the Agreement on air transport of 21 June 1999 1 between the Swiss Confederation and the European Community, as amended by Decision No 2/2010 of the Community/Switzerland Air Transport Committee of 26 November 2010, 2 to be interpreted as meaning that 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, 3 is applicable, in accordance with its Article 3(1)[(b)], also to passengers who depart on a flight from a third country and land at an airport in Switzerland in order subsequently to embark on a flight to a Member State?
If the first question is answered in the affirmative: Does this applicability for courts of a Member State also cover the case-law of the Court of Justice, according to which passengers whose flights are delayed may be treated, for the purposes of the application of the right to compensation, as passengers whose flights have been cancelled (CJEU, judgment of 19 November 2009 — Cases C-402/07 and C-432/07)? 4
Can a right to compensation under Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 also exist when a passenger does not catch a directly connecting flight due to a relatively minor delay in arrival, with the result that there is a delay in arrival at the final destination of three hours or more, but the two flights were operated by different air carriers and the booking confirmation was issued by a tour operator who combined the flights for its customers?
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1 OJ 2002 L 114, p. 73.
2 OJ 2010 L 347, p. 54.
3 OJ 2004 L 46, p. 1.
4 EU:C:2009:716.