EU LEGISLATION AND CONTRACTUAL RELATIONSHIP The somewhat predictable consequences of this almost instantaneous tripling have been the emergence of many dysfunctions in the international tourism industry: many canceled flights, significant delays caused not only by air carriers, but also by airports, through insufficient staffing. Or, in general, any dysfunction in the relationship between various actors of society finds its solution in LAW, in the APPLICATION of the “LAW”. In a similar way, these dysfunctions that appeared in the tourism sector in the “post- -Covid-19” period generated litigation, the settlement of which required the intervention of the law and the application of the law by the courts. If, however, when we consider the hypothesis of a direct legal relationship between an airline company registered in the European Union and the passenger, it is relatively easy to determine the applicable legislation and to know the legal solutions it offers, in the case of charter flights we are in the hypothesis of a division of the aforementioned legal relationship. This legal relationship is multiplied by the interposition of the tour operator between the air carrier and the passenger/tourist. This results in two distinct legal relationships: air carrier – tour operator and tour operator – tourist. We therefore propose to see to what extent the legislation of the European Union, duplicated by the jurisprudence of the CJEU, regulates sufficiently clearly and precisely both of the aforementioned legal relationships, especially in terms of the liability of the air carrier and/or the tour operator, in the event of the delay or cancellation of a charter flight. II. THE SCOPE OF OUR STUDY First, a terminological clarification is necessary in relation to the air charter contract and “air charter flight”. In international aviation terminology, charter flight means a flight operated under the terms of a charter contract between a direct air carrier and its charterer or lessee. It does not include scheduled air transportation or nonscheduled air transportation, sold on an individually ticketed or individually waybilled basis.2 So, our working hypothesis is that a tour operator, in order to transport its tourists to the holiday destination, concludes an air charter contract with an 2 US Code of Federal Regulations / Title 14 – Aeronautics and Space / Chapter II – Office of the Secretary, Department of Transportation (Aviation Proceedings) / Subchapter A – Economic Regulations / Part 212 – Charter Rules for U.S. and foreign direct air carriers / § 212.2 Definitions.
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