Cheering the air travelers and increasing some burden of the airline companies, the Lok Sabha has passed a Bill aimed at enhancing compensation that airlines must pay to passengers in case of death, injury, lost baggage or inordinate flight delay. The Carriage by Air (Amendment) Bill, 2015, passed in Lok Sabha intends to increase the compensation for death in an accident to more than Rs 1 crore from around Rs 89 lakh at present. The Bill will enable the government to revise the liability limits of carriers in line with the Montreal Convention, which India had signed in May 2009.
Once the Bill is enacted into a law, domestic carriers will have to pay compensation equivalent to the rates paid by their global counter-parts. The Bill intends to raise the liability limit for damage in case of death or bodily injury for each person from 1,00,000 SDR (special drawing rights) to 1,13,100 SDR. As per the latest exchange rate, the compensation limit rises to more than Rs 1 crore from almost Rs 88.71 lakh at present. One SDR is equivalent to more than Rs 90. The currency value of the SDR is based on market exchange rates of a basket of major currencies-dollar, euro, Japanese yen and pound.
According to the Bill, the liability for delay in carriage for each person is proposed to be raised from 4,150 SDR to 4,694 SDR while the liability in case of destruction, loss, damage or delay of baggage is proposed to be raised from 1,000 SDR to 1,131 SDR. Liability in case of destruction, loss or delay in relation to the carriage of cargo has been raised from 17 SDR to 19 SDR.
The liability limits are revised once every five years by the International Civil Aviation Organisation on the basis of a determined inflation factor of 13.1 per cent triggering an adjustment in the limits.
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