DOT ISSUES CONSENT ORDER AGAINST EUROWINGS FOR TARMAC DELAY RULE VIOLATIONS
April 28, 2023
On March 8, 2023, DOT issued a consent order against Eurowings GmbH (“Eurowings”) for alleged violations of DOT’s tarmac delay rule, ordering Eurowings to pay a $225,000 civil penalty.
DOT alleged that Eurowings had failed to adhere to the assurance in its contingency plan for lengthy tarmac delays related to the timely deplaning of passengers and also violated the Department’s rule against allowing an aircraft to remain on the tarmac for more than four hours without allowing passengers an opportunity to deplane. The alleged violations centered around a Eurowings flight from Dusseldorf Airport (DUS) to Miami International Airport (MIA) that was diverted to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) because of a weather-related closure at MIA. This resulted in passengers being held in the aircraft and on the tarmac for nearly five and a half hours before being given the opportunity to deplane, a violation of DOT rules. Eurowings argued that due to the diversion to FLL, an airport that it does not usually operate to and therefore did not have pre-existing arrangements for ground handling that could have allowed it to deplane passengers, and due to continued delays and closures at MIA due to weather, it was impeded by a series of factors outside of its control and tried to complete the flight as scheduled several times. Nevertheless, DOT noted that it takes seriously violations of the tarmac delay rules and therefore, despite Eurowings’ arguments, issuance of the consent order and civil penalty was warranted.
If you have any questions, please contact Evelyn Sahr (esahr@eckertseamans.com 202-659-6622) or Drew Derco (dderco@eckertseamans.com 202-659-6665).
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