LUXEMBOURG (dpa-AFX) - Passengers on state-run repatriation flights at the start of the Corona pandemic can have less hope of being reimbursed, according to an EU court ruling. Travelers who were brought home on a government-organized flight have no right to claim the money for it from the airline that should have brought them back. This was the ruling of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg on Thursday.

In their ruling, the ECJ judges pointed out that only commercial flights are covered by an EU law on air passenger rights. There, it is specified in which cases one is entitled to compensation as a passenger. According to the ECJ ruling, a return flight organized by the state is not a commercial flight. It can differ greatly - for example, in terms of the service on board. The ruling sets a precedent for national courts in EU countries, an ECJ spokeswoman said.

The lawsuit was brought by an Austrian couple whose return flight from Mauritius to Vienna was canceled at the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Instead, a flight organized by the Austrian Foreign Ministry brought them back. The couple had to pay 500 euros per person for it. However, the flight was operated by the same airline at the same time as the one originally planned by the couple. The couple therefore believed that they had been charged twice for the return flight and demanded a refund from the airline for the 1000 euros they had paid.

The ECJ pointed out that travelers could theoretically sue for reimbursement of other costs before national courts. These could be, for example, the price of the original flight ticket.

Litigation regarding the Corona return flights is also currently ongoing in Germany. When the pandemic broke out, the German government organized a major repatriation campaign: starting in mid-March, 67,000 people were brought back to Germany on around 270 charter flights. This cost around 95 million euros.

Several tourists later filed a lawsuit against the personal contribution they had to pay for these flights. The Berlin Administrative Court, however, ruled in favor of the federal government - which was allowed to demand part of the costs back from the travelers. The tourists appealed. More than 25 of these cases are currently still pending at the Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg.

However, the current ECJ ruling is unlikely to have any impact on these cases, as it only deals with possible reimbursements from the airlines, not with claims against the state.

The federal government is still waiting for its money in around two percent of cases more than three years after the recovery action. In around 1,200 cases, reminders or enforcement proceedings are necessary, the Foreign Office said in response to an inquiry from the Deutsche Presse-Agentur. The open demand lies up-to-date with approximately 1.03 million euro.

The German Travel Association (DRV) points out that package tourists who had booked with German travel providers had been recalled at the beginning of the pandemic at their expense. More than 250,000 package tourists had been brought home by the beginning of April 2020, it said./sza/DP/jha