INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM, TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY LAW hours and 13 minutes; and thirdly, the weather conditions that occurred after the doors closed delayed take-off by a further 19 minutes. Although the delay of more than three hours was due to several factors, the question referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling concerns exclusively the delay linked to the lack of staff assigned by the airport operator to the loading of the baggage and is whether the lack of staff on the part of the operator of Cologne Bonn Airport, which TAS claims to have caused the long delay of the flight in question, constitutes an “extraordinary circumstance” within the meaning of Article 5(3) of Regulation No 261/2004. The question referred for a preliminary ruling by the Landgericht Köln (Regional Court, Cologne) was as follows: “Is Article 5(3) of [Regulation No 261/2004] to be interpreted as meaning that a shortage of staff at the airport operator, or at a company commissioned by the airport operator, responsible for handling the baggage loading operations to be provided by that airport operator, constitutes an extraordinary circumstance, within the meaning of that provision, that has an external and uncontrollable effect on the normal activity of the air carrier using that service of the airport operator / company commissioned by that airport operator, or is the loading of baggage by the airport operator / a company commissioned by that airport operator and a shortage of loading staff at that airport operator / company commissioned by that airport operator to be classified as part of the normal exercise of the activity of that air carrier, such that an exculpation as provided for under Article 5(3) of [that provision] can be considered only if the reason for the shortage of staff constitutes an extraordinary circumstance within the meaning of that provision?” In the judgment of May 16, 2024, the Court recalls that, according to settled case-law, the concept of “extraordinary circumstances” within the meaning of Article 5(3) of Regulation No 261/2004 refers to events which, by their nature or origin, are not inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of the air carrier concerned and are beyond that air carrier's actual control.
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