Aviation lawyers.

How aviation injury compensation claims work in Queensland

The first question in any aviation injury claim is not who was careless. It is which legal regime applies, because aviation injuries can fall under three different frameworks (international carriage, domestic carriage, and non-passenger incidents) and each has its own rules for liability, damages, and time limits. Identifying the right regime at the outset is the foundation of a successful aviation accident claim.

Aviation injury claims are unusual within personal injury law because most passenger injuries during air carriage are governed by federal aviation legislation rather than the standard Queensland negligence and public liability framework. The Civil Aviation (Carriers' Liability) Act 1959 (Cth) (the CACL Act), implementing the Montreal Convention 1999 for international carriage and establishing a parallel domestic regime under Part IV of the Act, applies to most claims by passengers injured on board an aircraft or during embarkation and disembarkation. The CACL Act operates to the exclusion of common law negligence claims against the carrier for passenger injury connected to carriage. Some aviation incidents fall outside this framework entirely and continue to be governed by ordinary negligence law, particularly where the injury was suffered by ground crew, airport workers, or visitors who were not in the course of carriage as passengers.

Which legal framework applies - international, domestic, and non-passenger

Three different regimes can apply to aviation injuries in Australia, depending on the nature of the carriage and the relationship between the injured person and the aircraft.

International carriage between Australia and another contracting state to the Montreal Convention is governed by the Montreal Convention itself, given force of law in Australia by the CACL Act. Strict liability applies to the carrier for passenger death or bodily injury caused by an "accident" on board or during embarking and disembarking, up to a threshold of 128,821 Special Drawing Rights per passenger (approximately AUD$290,000 at recent exchange rates). Above that threshold, the carrier remains liable unless it can prove the damage was not due to its negligence or other wrongful act, and there is no upper cap on damages within that two-tier structure.

Domestic carriage within Australia (Australian airline, intra-Australian flight) is governed by Part IV of the CACL Act and complementary state legislation creating a national uniform scheme. Strict liability also applies for passenger death or bodily injury caused by an accident, but the structure is different from the international regime: liability is capped at $925,000 per passenger as an unbreakable limit, with no mechanism for damages above that figure even where the carrier was clearly negligent. Charter flights, regular scheduled flights, and most commercial domestic operations fall within this regime.

Aviation injuries that are not connected to passenger carriage are not covered by the CACL Act. Injuries to ground crew, baggage handlers, refuellers, airport visitors who slip in the terminal building, and other people whose injuries are not "on board" or in "embarkation and disembarkation" are assessed under ordinary negligence law and the relevant statutory framework, such as workers' compensation for employees and PIPA-based public liability claims for visitors. The classification of any given incident as a CACL Act matter or a non-CACL matter is the foundational legal question, and it can affect the available compensation by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Strict liability and the "accident" requirement

Within the CACL Act framework, the carrier is strictly liable for passenger death or bodily injury without the passenger having to prove any fault. The strict liability is conditional on two requirements being satisfied. First, the harm must be caused by an "accident", which in aviation law means an unexpected or unusual event or happening external to the passenger, rather than the passenger's own physical reaction to normal flight conditions. Turbulence severe enough to throw passengers from their seats can be an accident. Routine turbulence that aggravates a pre-existing back condition typically is not. A trolley collision during service is generally an accident. A slip on a clean cabin floor where no spill or hazard existed is harder to characterise.

Second, the harm must be a "bodily injury", which is generally interpreted to require a physical injury or a psychiatric injury accompanied by physical injury. Pure psychiatric harm without accompanying physical injury (such as PTSD from a traumatic landing where the passenger was uninjured physically) is generally excluded under both the Montreal Convention and the domestic regime, although case law in this area continues to develop. This limitation has been the subject of significant criticism but currently restricts the scope of recoverable harm in passenger claims.

Where strict liability applies, the carrier is responsible regardless of negligence up to the relevant threshold. Above the international threshold, the carrier can avoid further liability only by proving it was not negligent or that the damage was caused solely by a third party. Section 39 of the CACL Act allows damages to be reduced for contributory negligence by the passenger, applying the same proportionate reduction principles as ordinary negligence claims.

Ground crew, airport injuries, and other non-carriage claims

Aviation injuries that fall outside the passenger-carriage framework are assessed under the same legal principles that apply to other personal injury claims, principally common law negligence and the standard public liability statutory framework under the Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002 (Qld) and the Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld). Ground crew injuries, where the worker is employed in aviation operations, are assessed as workers' compensation matters under the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld). Airport visitors injured in terminals, on apron areas, or at car parks pursue ordinary public liability claims against the airport operator, the relevant tenant, or contractors responsible for the area.

Specialist aviation knowledge is still important in these matters because operational, regulatory, and engineering issues commonly arise even in claims that are formally common-law claims. Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) compliance, aircraft maintenance standards, ground operations protocols, and air traffic control records can all be relevant evidence in non-carriage aviation injuries even where the legal framework is ordinary negligence. The Damage by Aircraft Act 1999 (Cth) imposes strict liability on aircraft operators and owners for damage caused by aircraft to persons and property on the ground, providing a separate statutory cause of action for surface victims.

Time limits in aviation matters

Aviation claims under the CACL Act are subject to a uniquely strict two-year limitation period under section 34 of the Act. The two years runs from the date of arrival of the aircraft at its destination, the date the aircraft ought to have arrived if it did not arrive, or the date the carriage stopped, whichever is later. Unlike most personal injury limitation periods in Queensland, this two-year period is strict and cannot be extended, and the right to claim is extinguished entirely if proceedings are not commenced in time. Australian courts have consistently confirmed there is no discretion to allow late claims under this section.

The two-year aviation limitation contrasts with the ordinary three-year limitation period that applies to most other personal injury matters, and the time limits for personal injury claims under PIPA in Queensland do not protect a claim that is properly characterised as a passenger carriage matter under the CACL Act. For non-passenger aviation injuries, including ground crew claims and airport public liability claims, the standard PIPA framework applies, with the Notice of Claim Form (PIPA) required within nine months of injury and court proceedings within three years, and section 9(5) of PIPA allows late notification where a reasonable excuse for the delay is given.

The shorter aviation limitation, combined with the technical complexity of identifying which regime applies, makes early legal advice particularly important after any aviation incident. Acting within months rather than years of an aviation injury preserves all options across both the carriers' liability and ordinary negligence pathways.