Families of flight MH17 victims could wait years for compensation

Families of passengers who were on the Malaysia Airlines plane shot down over Ukraine are starting the long process of gaining compensation for their loss.

Officials in the Netherlands, where the majority of flight MH17 victims lived, say Malaysia Airlines has been making US$50,000 payments to families without admitting wrongdoing.

Such payments may create goodwill, lawyers say, but are not likely to discourage some from seeking more than the amount promised under an international treaty – about US$174,000.

Since the early days of commercial aviation, international agreements have governed compensation for crash victims. It is a no-fault system – the airline pays a standard compensation even if it is blameless. Under  the Montreal Convention, families can sue for more if the airline or another party was negligent.

Aviation-accident lawyers say it would be almost impossible to collect damages from Russia or the pro-Russian rebels accused of shooting down the plane with a surface-to-air missile.

Malaysia Airlines will be left as the prime – maybe the only – defendant, and lawsuits are likely to hinge on the plane’s planned route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17. Malaysian officials have said that the route over eastern Ukraine was deemed safe by international aviation authorities as long as the plane flew above 9,750 metres.