Importance of Personal Data Protection Law for Commercial Air Transport

In the review below the author presents a general overview of the selected contemporary legal issues related to the present growth of the aviation industry and the development of aviation technologies. The review is focused on the questions at the intersection of aviation law and personal data protection law. Massive processing of passenger data (Passenger Name Record, PNR) in IT systems is a daily activity for the contemporary aviation industry. Simultaneously, since the mid- 1990s we can observe the rapid growth of personal data protection law as a very new branch of the law. The importance of this new branch of the law for the aviation industry is however still questionable and unclear. This article includes the summary of the author’s own research conducted between 2011 and 2017, in particular his audits in LOT Polish Airlines (June 2011-April 2013) and Lublin Airport (July - September 2013) and the author’s analyses of public information shared by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International Air Transport Association (IATA), Association of European Airlines (AEA), Civil Aviation Authority (ULC) and (GIODO). The purpose of the author’s research was to determine the applicability of the implementation of technical and organizational measures established by personal data protection law in aviation industry entities.