This appears not to be about local contracts or who signed what and when - this seems to be about whether the aviation industry has the same sort of legal obligations as the maritime industry. A UK registered vessel must abide by UK law (no matter what contracts are signed or when or where - an illegal contract is null and void). Hence the widespread use of "Flags of Convenience" and some nations even setting up Second Registrations so that you can register a vessel in your home country but still not have that vessel abiding by the home country law - e.g. Norway, Denmark and Germany. This allows for the use of cheap labour, less rigourous safety standards etc.
The big question (I think) is whether the same applies to a UK registered aircraft?
So for instance, if a HK based cabin crew employee was injured whilst working on a UK registered based plane, would any subsequent legal action take place under UK or HK based law? Or to take it a step further, do non-UK basesd employees working on UK registered aircraft have the same "protection" as UK based employees?
Betty Girl has given a good explanation of why the courts might find against BA.
Last edited by BetterByBoat; 11th Dec 2010 at 08:36.