Legal Liability of Flights Discharge Fuel: A Case Study of MU587 & MU551 Rescue Cases

The recent "China Eastern Airline Passenger Rescue" incident has become a hot spot of public concern. This type of alternate landing event involves many legal relationships, such as the ones between the airline and the sickened passenger, the airline and other passengers, and of course the sickened passenger and other passengers. In order to clarify the legal responsibilities in such incidents, it is necessary to consider the "Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air"(also as known as The Montreal Convention of 1999) and Chinese Civil Law as the legal basis, combined with the judicial practice of the US courts and case studies. The research shows the airline has the obligation to rescue the passengers, but the alternate is not necessary; the loss of fuel and other standby costs should be borne by the passengers; the passengers' loss caused by delay should not be borne by the airline but the sickened passenger, and that the carrier is not obligated to pay for the sickened passenger's medical expenses.