Research On Force Majeure Clause Of Aircraft Financial Lease Agreement In The Era Of Post-Pandemic

The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 swept the whole world in rapid sequence,a number of countries has ordered lockdowns to slow the spread of coronavirus,which has led to a series of domino reactions,such as most aircrafts in the world were grounded,delivery of the new aircrafts was difficult to execute,payment in the existing aircraft rental was delayed,a mass of layoffs in the aviation industry chain emerged and some airlines even went bankrupt.As a result,the global aviation transport industry has been plunged into unprecedented difficulties and one of the most prominent issue is vast quantities of disputes over the performance of aircraft financial lease agreements spring up without better solution.Furthermore,the focus of these disputes is the application of Force Majeure Concept or Force Majeure Clause in the agreement.The following questions need to be alerted in the application.Is there a Force Majeure Clause in the agreement?If there is no force majeure clause in the agreement,then how to apply it after the occurrence of a Force Majeure event?Should it be statutory or consensus-based if the agreed scope of Force Majeure events beyond the scope specified by law?Could covid-19 pandemic and related government action be defined as Force Majeure?Whether the pandemic will be taken as an excuse of Force Majeure to exempt obligation under the agreement.This paper aims to make precautions for the aviation transport industry related contract parties in the post-pandemic era and provide effective resolution to protect their rights and interests.In regard of the abovementioned issues and also in consideration of the aircraft finance leasing business is a kind of international transactions,this study firstly starts from the origin and historical development of Force Majeure,then takes the provisions of the Force Majeure in Civil Code of PRC and ICC Force Majeure Clause as the basis,and thirdly analyzes and demonstrates the establishment and application conditions of Force Majeure Concept and Force Majeure Clauses in aircraft financial lease agreement under English Law and PRC Law through the case analysis method,comparative analysis method and literature research method in practice.For the application of Force Majeure Concept and the drafting of the Force Majeure Clause in the aircraft financial leasing agreement,the parties,judges and arbitrators should manage it from a variety of perspectives.In terms of the parties,it is necessary to clarify different agreed contents which may lead to different legal consequences in drafting force majeure items.The choice of force majeure clause in PRC law,English law or ICC Force Majeure Clause will affect the parties’ claims of rights.In terms of the judges,a comprehensive judgment should be made based on the various factors and the impact of COVID-19 on the conclusion and performance of the agreement,so as to better implement the fairness and justice of the law in judicial cases.