Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Civil Aviation Act 2023

International and domestic carriage of passengers and goods by air - Domestic carriage by air

283: Limitation of actions

You could also call this:

"Time limit to take a carrier to court over a flight issue"

Illustration for Civil Aviation Act 2023

If you want to take a carrier to court, you must do it within two years of the aircraft arriving at its destination. If the aircraft did not arrive, you must take the carrier to court within two years of when it should have arrived, or when the carriage stopped. You can think of carriage as the trip the aircraft was on.

If you miss this two-year time limit, you can still ask the court for permission to take the carrier to court, but you must do this within six years of when you wanted to take the action. The court will only let you do this if the delay was caused by a mistake or a good reason, and if the carrier will not be unfairly affected by the delay.

The court can also set conditions for letting you take the carrier to court after the time limit. This section of the law is affected by section 281, which you should look at as well.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS49978.

Topics:
Transport and travel > Air travel
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"Carriers like airlines can make special deals with each other"

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Part 8International and domestic carriage of passengers and goods by air
Domestic carriage by air

283Limitation of actions

  1. An action must not be brought under this subpart against a carrier later than 2 years after the later of the following dates:

  2. the date on which the aircraft arrived at the destination:
    1. if the aircraft did not arrive at the destination,—
      1. the date on which the aircraft ought to have arrived at the destination; or
        1. the date on which the carriage stopped.

        2. Despite subsection (1), application may be made to the court, after giving notice to the intended defendant, for leave to bring an action at any time within 6 years after the date on which the cause of action accrued as provided in subsection (1).

        3. On application under subsection (2), the court may grant leave accordingly if it considers that it is just to do so and if it considers that—

        4. the delay in bringing the action was caused by—
          1. mistake of fact; or
            1. mistake of any matter of law other than the provisions of this subsection; or
              1. any other reasonable cause; or
              2. the intended defendant was not materially prejudiced in the defendant’s defence or otherwise by the delay.

                1. If the court grants leave under subsection (3), that leave may be subject to any conditions that the court thinks just to impose.

                2. This section applies subject to section 281.

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