Carriage by Air Act, 1972 — back to Table of Contents | See Section 4A
Note: This page is a summary of the rules for quick reference, not the verbatim statutory text. For the exact wording of each rule, please refer to the bare Act.
THE THIRD SCHEDULE
(As applicable to carriage by air not being international carriage) — See sub-section (2) of section 3, sub-section (2) of section 4 and sub-section (2) of section 4A
RULES — the Montreal Convention, 1999, inserted into the Act by the Carriage by Air (Amendment) Act, 2009. This is the modern, currently operative framework, using Special Drawing Rights (SDR) instead of gold francs.
CHAPTER I — Scope of Application
Rules 1–2. These rules apply to all international carriage of persons, baggage, or cargo by aircraft for reward (and gratuitous carriage by an air transport undertaking). Key definitions: “baggage” covers both checked and unchecked baggage; “depository” is the International Civil Aviation Organisation; “State Party” is a country that has ratified or acceded to the Montreal Convention. “International carriage” is defined similarly to the earlier Schedules. These rules apply to State/public-body carriage under the same conditions; for postal items, the carrier is liable only to the relevant postal administration.
CHAPTER II — Documentation and Duties Relating to Passengers, Baggage and Cargo
Rules 3–9. A document of carriage (individual or collective) must indicate places of departure/destination and any intermediate stopping place; other means preserving this information may substitute for a paper document. A baggage identification tag must be delivered for each piece of checked baggage. Passengers must be given written notice that these rules may limit the carrier’s liability for death, injury, baggage loss/damage, and delay. For cargo, an air waybill (or equivalent electronic record) must be delivered, indicating departure/destination, stopping places, and the consignment’s weight. Non-compliance with these documentation requirements does not affect the contract’s validity or the applicability of the liability-limitation rules (a more consignor/passenger-friendly position than under the earlier Schedules).
Rules 10–16. The consignor is responsible for the correctness of particulars it supplies for the waybill/record, and indemnifies the carrier for damage from their incorrectness; the carrier similarly indemnifies the consignor for its own errors. The waybill/record is prima facie evidence of the contract and receipt of cargo. The consignor retains a right of disposal of the cargo in transit (e.g. to redirect or recall it), ceasing once the consignee’s right to require delivery arises on arrival. The consignor must furnish documents necessary for customs, police, and similar formalities.
CHAPTER III — Liability of the Carrier and Extent of Compensation for Damages
Rule 17. The carrier is liable for death or bodily injury on board the aircraft or during embarking/disembarking. For checked baggage, liability is strict (subject only to the baggage’s own inherent defect); for unchecked baggage, the carrier is liable only if fault is shown.
Rule 18. The carrier is liable for destruction, loss of, or damage to cargo occurring during carriage by air, but is excused (wholly or to the relevant extent) if it proves the damage resulted from the cargo’s inherent defect, defective packing by someone other than the carrier, an act of war or armed conflict, or an act of public authority connected with the cargo’s entry, exit, or transit.
Rule 19. The carrier is liable for delay damage to passengers, baggage, or cargo, unless it proves that it and its servants/agents took all measures reasonably required to avoid the damage, or that this was impossible.
Rule 20. The carrier may be wholly or partly exonerated to the extent the claimant’s own negligence or wrongful act contributed to the damage.
Rule 21. For death/injury claims (Rule 17(1)), the carrier cannot exclude or limit liability up to 1,28,821 Special Drawing Rights per passenger. Above that figure, the carrier is not liable if it proves the damage was not due to its own (or its servants’/agents’) negligence, or was solely due to a third party’s fault.
Rule 22. Other liability limits: (1) delay to passengers — 5,346 SDR per passenger; (2) baggage destruction/loss/damage/delay — 1,288 SDR per passenger (unless a higher value is declared with a supplementary charge); (3) cargo destruction/loss/damage/delay — 22 SDR per kilogramme (unless a higher value is declared with a supplementary charge). These figures (revised periodically by the depository for inflation under Rule 24) are current as substituted with effect from 2 March 2020. Courts may additionally award court costs and litigation expenses, subject to conditions relating to any prior settlement offer.
Rules 23–27. SDR amounts are converted to rupees per the International Monetary Fund’s valuation method. The Rule 21/22 limits are reviewed by the depository at five-year intervals (or sooner, under specified inflation-triggered conditions). A carrier may agree to higher limits or no limits at all; provisions attempting to relieve the carrier of liability or fix a lower limit than these rules are void, though the rest of the contract remains valid.
Rule 28. Notably, in the event of an aircraft accident causing death or injury, the carrier must make advance payments without delay to eligible claimants to meet immediate economic needs — these payments do not constitute an admission of liability and may be offset against later damages.
Rules 29–32. Actions for damages, however founded, can only be brought subject to these rules’ conditions and limits; punitive or exemplary damages are not recoverable. A servant/agent sued directly may rely on the carrier’s same conditions and limits (except, for cargo claims, where their own intentional/reckless misconduct is shown). Complaint time limits: 7 days for checked baggage, 14 days for cargo, 21 days for delay claims.
Rule 33. Jurisdiction: an action may be brought, at the claimant’s option, before the court of the carrier’s domicile, principal place of business, place of business through which the contract was made, or the place of destination. For death/injury claims specifically, the Montreal Convention adds a “fifth jurisdiction” — the State Party where the passenger had their principal and permanent residence at the time of the accident, provided the carrier operates services to/from that State (a significant pro-passenger addition compared to the Warsaw/Hague regime).
Rules 34–37. Cargo disputes may be settled by written arbitration agreement, applying these rules, within one of the jurisdictions specified in Rule 33. The right to damages is extinguished if an action is not brought within two years of arrival, expected arrival, or the stopping of carriage. For successive carriers, liability and rights of action follow the same structure as under the earlier Schedules.
CHAPTER IV — Combined Carriage
Rule 38. As with the earlier Schedules, these rules apply only to the carriage by air portion of any combined (multi-modal) carriage.
CHAPTER V — Carriage by Air Performed by a Person Other Than the Contracting Carrier
Rules 39–48. Where a “contracting carrier” makes the contract but an “actual carrier” performs all or part of the carriage under delegated authority, both are generally subject to these rules — the contracting carrier for the whole journey, the actual carrier only for the portion it performs. Their acts/omissions are cross-attributed to each other (with liability caps), and a claimant may sue either or both carriers together or separately, subject to specified jurisdictional options.
CHAPTER VI — General and Final Provisions
Rules 49–52. Clauses purporting to infringe these rules are void. State Parties must require their carriers to maintain adequate insurance covering their liability under these rules. Documentation requirements (Rules 3, 4, 5, 7, 8) do not apply to carriage in extraordinary circumstances outside a carrier’s normal business. “Days” means calendar days.
