Transport and Aviation
Our Transport and Aviation team has a very strong reputation in Belgium and covers both advisory work and advocacy. We appear before the full range of ordinary, administrative, arbitral and international courts and tribunals, in Belgium and abroad.
We maintain regular contact with top tier foreign law firms, enabling us to offer seamless, high-quality management of cross-border cases.
Recent work highlights:
-
We manage claims for major air and rail carriers (including their insurance and communication aspects), and are the emergency response team for an international railway company in the event of major crashes.
-
We participate in the permanent updating of internal procedures, communication tools (i.a. the carrier’s website) and contractual documents in a constantly evolving commercial and regulatory environment.
-
We represent the entity in charge of the Federal Airport in numerous court cases including recent claims by residents against the Belgian State and the Airport Authority due to the alleged increase of noise around the airport. We succeeded once again in a recent court case to obtain a judgement dismissing the claims of the plaintiffs.
-
We represent a major Belgian airline company before the Belgian courts in two major cases in which a blacklisted African airline has summoned our client for illegal use of traffic rights between Congo and Belgium and abuse of dominant market position.
-
We were heavily involved in setting up and developing a subsidiary of a major Belgian airline company in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
-
We continue to represent and assist the Belgian market leader for aviation insurance, and international insurance companies on various liability and regulatory issues in the aviation and insurance sector and in numerous court proceedings relating to plane crashes and accidents.
-
We represent the Belgian national railway company in the very first class action in Belgium, introduced by a consumer organisation for the interruption and the suspension of the train service during eight days of strikes in 2014 and 2015.
-
We represent and assist express couriers companies in their day-to-day business, including the procedures related to the transport licences and the drafting of the contracts with the subcontractors.
-
We assist airlines with passenger claims handling related to the compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding, cancellation, long delay of flights, and loss of luggage.
- Les responsabilités en matière de transport sous température dirigée
- Responsabilités. Traité théorique et pratique
- Les assurances transports », in « Responsabilités – Traité pratique et théorique »
- L'arrêté royal du 10 avril 2016 relatif aux drones : premier commentaire
- La loi applicable aux assurances aériennes : un revirement surprenant de la jurisprudence de la Cour de cassation
- Traité Pratique de Droit Commercial - Tome 6 : Transport de marchandises
- Les drones, le droit aérien et le droit des assurances
- La nouvelle législation belge en matière de transport de personnes par route
- Les assurances transports et les assurances aériennes à l’aune de la loi du 4 avril 2014 sur les assurances
- Aviation & Transport News: Judgment by Court of Justice requires air carriers to indicate the final price to be paid for each flight in respect of which the fare is shown
- The concept of contract of carriage
- On Air Law
News
- Liedekerke recognized by The Legal 500 EMEA in the 2021 Rankings
- Droit des Transports, Jean Pierre Kesteloot, Larcier - 2020
- Liedekerke achieves top rankings in Legal 500 EMEA 2020
- Liedekerke recognized by Chambers Europe in the 2020 Rankings
- Les obligations des transporteurs et des opérateurs de voyage relatives à la transmission des données des passagers
- Liedekerke assists Brussels Airlines, Brussels Airport and TUI in legal action against skeyes, the Belgian air traffic control provider
- Liedekerke achieves excellent rankings in the Legal 500 2019
- Liedekerke recognized by Chambers Europe in the 2019 Rankings
- Liedekerke mentors start-up companies from the imec.istart Business Acceleration Program
- Automotive Newsflash - Autoliek 3 : Can an importer refer an unsatisfied purchaser to the Automoto Conciliation Commission?
- Automatisation des véhicules et engins mobiles (voitures autonomes, vélos électriques, drones) : incidences en matière de responsabilité et d’assurance
- Liedekerke secured another litigation success for Uber
‘To-the-point advice, which enables the client to take optimal decisions.’
‘Imaginative thinking in innovation projects linked to the industry.’
‘Very reactive, to-the-point and practical answers.’
-- Legal 500 Industry Focus: Transport 2021
Liedekerke Wolters Waelbroeck Kirkpatrick’s transport and aviation practice handles a range of advisory, transactional and litigation work for its client roster.
Counsel Jean Pierre Kesteloot has a breadth of contentious expertise across the aviation, shipping, railway, road carriage and insurance sectors, and heads up the practice, which can leverage the firm’s full-service capabilities on a range of issues including corporate, finance, employment and competition matters.
-- Legal 500 2020
The transport team at Liedekerke Wolters Waelbroeck Kirkpatrick ‘is experienced and fields a range of experts that provide support across a broad spectrum of transport issues’.
Counsel Jean Pierre Kesteloot, who is ‘a pleasure to work with and understands clients’ needs’, heads the practice and has broad transport and insurance expertise.
-- Legal 500 2019
Liedekerke is appreciated for its “excellent, practice-oriented service.”
-- Legal 500 2017
A "fast, knowledgeable and practical" team
-- Legal 500 2016
boulevard de l'Empereur 3 Keizerslaan - 1000 Brussels - Belgium
T: +32 2 551 15 15 - F: +32 2 551 14 14
VAT - BE 0478 065 191
