C-501/17 · 2019 · UK 261 AND EC 261
Germanwings GmbH v Wolfgang Pauels
A tyre damaged by a screw or other loose debris on the runway is an extraordinary circumstance under Art. 5(3). The Court held on 4 April 2019 that damage caused solely by a foreign object is not intrinsically linked to the aircraft's operating system, and clearing runways is not the carrier's job. The airline must still prove it used all its resources to keep the tyre change from causing a long delay.
REVIEWED AGAINST RULE SET V6 AND THE CITED PRIMARY SOURCES · UPDATED 7 AUGUST 2026
- COURT
- Court of Justice of the European Union (Third Chamber)
- CASE NUMBER
- C-501/17
- JUDGMENT
- 4 April 2019
- CITATION
- Case C-501/17, judgment of 4 April 2019
What the case was about
A Germanwings flight from Dublin to Düsseldorf on 28 August 2015 arrived 3 hours and 28 minutes late.
During preparations for take off a screw was found in one of the aircraft's tyres, and the tyre had to be changed.
The first instance court in Cologne had ordered the airline to pay 250 euro, treating runway debris as an ordinary operating risk.
What it changed
- It separated foreign object damage from the ordinary technical fault line of Wallentin-Hermann and van der Lans: a breakdown caused entirely from outside the aircraft can qualify.
- The second limb still bites. The Court noted that tyres are changed under standard procedures and carriers can hold priority contracts with maintenance firms, so the airline has to show what it actually did to avoid the delay.
- The carrier bears the burden of proving the damage really was the sole result of the foreign object.
SOURCES
- Case C-501/17 Germanwings v Pauels, judgment of 4 April 2019 · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Art. 5(3) · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026