Language of document :

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal Judicial da Comarca dos Açores (Portugal) lodged on 12 March 2020 — MV v SATA Internacional — Serviços de Transportes Aéreos SA

(Case C-137/20)

Language of the case: Portuguese

Referring court

Tribunal Judicial da Comarca dos Açores

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: MV

Defendant: SATA Internacional — Serviços de Transportes Aéreos SA

Question referred

Must an event such as that which occurred on 6 June 2016, in which a flight was cancelled due to the meteorological conditions at the destination airport — that is to say, because at the time of the flight’s departure the minimal horizontal visibility limits, and also the minimum vertical visibility limits for the runway, were not ensured and, therefore, the required safety conditions not guaranteed in that airport and for the aircraft in question for the landing manoeuvre, it even being forecast that the atmospheric conditions would deteriorate in the following hours — be characterised as an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ within the meaning of Article 5(3) of Regulation No 261/2004 1 which relieves the air carrier of the obligation to pay compensation?

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1 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 (OJ 2004 L 46, p. 1).