A private, voluntary path to settling aviation disputes.

The Centre for Mediation at The Hague Court of Arbitration for Aviation facilitates the voluntary settlement of contractual disputes between aviation industry participants. It does so through a framework that is completely private, flexible, fast and cost-effective, and in a manner that also emphasizes reconciliation so as to make possible the continuation of commercial relationships.

The pool of qualified neutral mediators features very deep aviation industry expertise across different disciplines, most notably in technical subject matter. The parties select any available mediator or mediators they mutually agree. Among other optionality, the parties also decide together whether the mediation is to proceed such that it also includes elements of neutral case evaluation by the mediator(s), or whether legal counsel is to participate and/or be present during parts of the mediation. In any instance, mediators do not impose any solution on the parties.

Mediation may be utilised at any time by parties who have either already committed to seek the mediation of their dispute by virtue of the inclusion of a mediation clause in the underlying contract(s), or where no such contractual provision exists but the parties have agreed to seek mediation on an ad-hoc basis in order to either avoid, or during the course of, arbitration or court litigation. In either scenario, the dispute may still be settled in proceedings before The Hague Court of Arbitration for Aviation, or other arbitration or in a court if the parties do not reach a formal settlement in whole or part.

As with arbitration, the Netherlands Arbitration Institute also acts as the administering body in mediation referred to The Centre for Mediation at The Hague Court of Arbitration for Aviation. The NAI follows the mediation from the moment of the request until the conclusion of the mediation. Independence and confidentiality are important factors. For example, the NAI, as an independent administering body, would never discuss the content of a case. Moreover, no information regarding NAI mediations is disclosed to third parties.

A mediation is commenced by one or both parties submitting a completed Request for Mediation form to The Centre for Mediation at The Hague Court of Arbitration for Aviation. The application form is completely free, and the mediation is deemed to have commenced on the date the request is received by the administrator. The requirements a request for mediation must meet are stated in the Mediation Rules. If the request is not filed by all parties jointly, the administrator will send a copy of the request to the other party or parties and invite them to respond.