Spanish plane crash goes to European Court of Justice
An association representing the families of victims of a plane crash that happened in 2008 in Spain are taking their fight to the European Court of Justice, says David Ing
The association representing families of the 154 victims and 18 survivors of a Spanish plane crash 12 years ago say they are to take their fight over the system used to calculate compensation payments to the European Court of Justice, claiming that the Spanish legal system is infringing their rights.
The Asociación de Víctimas y Afectados del Vuelo JK-5022 (referring to the flight number that day) said the Spanish courts proposed using their ‘traffic barometer’, normally used for road accidents, to assess damages. But in a statement issued on 25 November 2020, the association’s legal team claimed that this ‘puts a limit on the principle of integral reparation of the damage suffered’.
Appealing to the European Union for a fair ruling
The crash happened in August 2008, when a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 aircraft (operated by the now defunct Spanair airline) crashed seconds after take-off from Madrid-Barajas Airport en route for Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands
“An aircraft insured for US$1.5 billion – the psychological and emotional impact linked with this type of accident and the fact that this would have occurred in a sector with a very low accident rate are sufficient factors to understand that the circumstances of an accident in the area of road traffic have nothing to do with those in an air accident,” argued Lawyer Francisco Caamaño.
“One cannot treat as the same what is clearly different. That is why European Union law proclaims in this context the principle of integral reparation for the damages suffered by the victims.”
The Spanair crash marked a turning point in European air travel. Two years later, in answer to a call from the Spanish government, the European Parliament set up new norms under which airlines had to facilitate in the case of an accident a full passenger list of those on board within two hours, as well as offering an assistance plan for victims. In the 2008 crash families had to wait for 30 hours before they learnt who was on the flight.
Founded in 1986 and a member of the Star Alliance from 2003 onwards, Spanair ceased flying in January 2012.