Aviation Insurance: New War Clauses

In early August 2006, the Aviation Insurance Clauses Group (of which BLG’s Nick Hughes is a member) published a suite of new aviation liability clauses and one aviation hull clause which are noteworthy not only for the importance of the subject matter but also for the process by which they were drafted.

The new aviation liability clauses published by the Aviation Insurance Clauses Group (AICG) essentially address the issue of exclusions and write backs in relation to the use of weapons of mass destruction. They are AVN48C, AVN52H, AVN52J, AVN48D, AVN52K and AVN52L published with guidance notes; the aviation hull clause is AVN51A.

The new liability clauses comprise alternative form exclusions (AVN48C and AVN48D), each of which is a development of the familiar AVN48B clause, and companion clauses designed to write back some of the risks thereby excluded. Each of the write backs is drafted in a form appropriate for use either on the policies of aircraft operators or the policies of