In 1999 following agreement on the wording of the Montreal Convention, the old Warsaw Regime was proclaimed to be modernized. Now, eight years since that Convention entered into force in 2003, this article examines whether the old Warsaw Regime has truly been left behind. Through quantitative analysis of ratification states and accident statistics, the article finds that while many states have ratified the Montreal Convention, the majority of the most important states, those whose airlines continue to fall from the sky, have failed to ratify the Montreal Convention. For families of major aviation disasters, this presents a bleak future; until such time as those states ratify the Montreal Convention, we will have failed to modernize the Warsaw Regime, and many families will remain vulnerable.
Air and Space Law