First published in 1945, Shawcross and Beaumont: Air Law is the leading air law authority and an invaluable reference tool to stay at the forefront of this complex legal area. Written by nine specialist editors, it provides comprehensive and up-to-date material every six months on all aspects of international and national aviation law. There is full commentary on the Montreal Convention governing air carriage, the law relating to airports and related security issues, aviation and the environment, the rules as to airworthiness, aircraft maintenance, and the operations of aircraft, balloons and drones, the future of flight and the regulation of the UK space industry, aviation insurance and competition law, and passenger rights in respect of package travel, cancellations and delays. The volumes also contain the full text of the relevant international conventions, with regularly updated lists of parties, UK regulations, and IATA conditions of carriage.

Source Currency

Issue 187 March 2024

This issue brings the commentary fully up to date to 31 December 2023. It contains two new Chapters on UK Airspace Management and Modernisation (Chapter 5a) and the UK Space Industry Regulation (Division XI – Chapter 48), reflecting significant operational and legal developments in the UK in both these areas. It also looks into the Aviation (Consumers) (Amendment) Regulations 2023, which quietly amended the Air Passengers Rights Regulation (assimilated Regulation 261/2004) in late 2023.

As usual, it accounts for new legislation, case law, and other developments in many jurisdictions. They include decisions of many courts (including the English High Courton, several District Courts in the USA, and the Court of Justice of the European Union) on articles of the Montreal Convention 1999, Regulation 261/2004 and aircraft finance. Amongst many other matters, this issue provides an update on the UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme, incorporates the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023, the Airports Slot Allocation (Alleviation of Usage Requirements) (No 2) Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/1133), the Aviation Statistics Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/1074), the Aviation Safety (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/588) and reports on several consultations in the fields of UAS, the advertising of cost-sharing flights and on advance information requirements for international general aviation flights.

The next issue, updating the legislative and other material in the Appendices (volumes 2-4) will be published in June 2024.

Editorial team: George Leloudas (General Editor), David Mcclean, Michael Gill, Auguste Hocking, Ingrid Konning, Andreas Ruehmkorf, Daniel Wand, Kathy Posner, Philip Chrystal.