Piloting the bill, Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Dorothy Lightbourne, said the statute would repeal the 77-year-old Carriage by Air Act.

The legislation seeks to establish a standardised system of liability, in the case of death or bodily injury of a passenger, or destruction, loss or damage to baggage or cargo.

It also facilitates making advanced payments to satisfy the immediate economic needs of victims and their families in the event of an aircraft accident.

Passage of the new law places an obligation on state parties to the convention. It requires their air carriers to maintain adequate insurance to cover their liability under the convention.

Senator Lightbourne told her colleagues in the Upper House that if there were inconsistencies between the Montreal Convention and any other rules, which applied to international carriage by air, the provisions of the convention would prevail.