Kapar v. Kuwait Airways Corp. (845 F.2d 1100, 1988)

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge HARRY T. EDWARDS.

HARRY T. EDWARDS, Circuit Judge:

The appellant, Charles Kapar, initiated an action in District Court seeking damages from Kuwait Airways Corporation (“KAC”), Pan American World Airways, Inc. (“Pan Am”) and Middle East Airlines Airliban, S.A.L. (“MEA”) for personal injuries he sustained when a KAC flight on which he was a passenger was hijacked. The District Court dismissed Kapar’s claims against KAC and Pan Am, ruling that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over both carriers under Article 28(1) of the Warsaw Convention (“Convention”). The trial court dismissed Kapar’s claim against MEA because personal jurisdiction had not been established. Kapar v. Kuwait Airways Corp., 663 F.Supp. 1065 (D.D.C.1987).

We find no error in the District Court’s interpretation of Article 28(1). Furthermore, we find no merit in Kapar’s alternative construction of this provision or his argument that he is entitled to bring an independent admiralty claim against KAC. We therefore affirm the dismissal of all claims against KAC and Pan Am. We remand the claim against MEA, however, because the District Court erred in dismissing MEA sua sponte for lack of personal jurisdiction.

I. Background

In 1984, Kapar was employed by the Agency for International Development (“AID”). Although stationed in Karachi, Pakistan, he provided auditing services at AID missions throughout the Middle East and Southeast Asia. After completing an assignment in Sanaa, Yemen Arab Republic, he purchased an airline ticket to Karachi from Marib Travel and Tourism, an authorized Pan Am sales agent.

Kapar’s ticket, which was issued on Pan Am ticket stock, was for travel on KAC flight #782 from Sanaa to Kuwait City, Kuwait, on December 3, 1984, and then on KAC flight # 221 from Kuwait City to Karachi on the same day. This arrangement was not unusual. Most of the world’s airlines — including Pan Am and KAC — routinely sell carriage over each other’s routes on a commission basis, pursuant to standard interline traffic agreements promulgated by the International Air Transport Association (“IATA”). See Eck v. United Arab Airlines, 360 F.2d 804, 813 & n. 22 (2d Cir.1966). Under the terms of the Pan Am-KAC interline agreement, Kapar’s payment was routed to a clearinghouse in New York, where settlement was made.

Kapar’s trip on KAC flight #782 from Sanaa to Kuwait City was uneventful. KAC flight #221 was hijacke