Overview of Airline, Airport, and Aviation Injuries.
If you or a loved one was hurt or killed while traveling, you need an attorney who worked inside the airlines to maximize the value of the case.
The right lawyer for your airline injury or wrongful death case.
For over 18 years, attorney Mahmoud “Mach” Khatib worked for major airlines including Delta and Northwest. Mahmoud wrote and negotiated contracts worth billions of dollars — encompassing over 200 airports across the country — for various services with airline handling companies including Unifi, Prospect, ERMC, Menzies, G2, Eulen, PrimeFlight, GAT, ABM, Huntleigh, Swissport, and more. While there are many personal injury attorneys, only The Airline Lawyer comes with the experience of an airline insider.
INJURY CASES WE HANDLE
Airlines. Airports. General Aviation.
With an airline career of over 18 years, on-the-ground experience managing airline suppliers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), and as a pilot since 2001, attorney Mahmoud Khatib knows aviation.
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![Front view of a commercial airplane on the tarmac at an airport, with the airport terminal and hangars in the background, under a clear sky.]()
Airline Injuries
Whether you were injured by an airline or an airline contractor, we can help. During Attorney Khatib’s long airline career, he wrote the contracts airlines use for ramp handling, cargo, cabin cleaning, aircraft deicing, airport busses, skycap, security screening, K-9 screening, unaccompanied minor escorts, and wheelchair services for airline passengers.
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![A TSA agent demonstrating a trained detection dog to an airline employee at an airport security checkpoint.]()
Airport Injuries
Airports can be chaotic and dangerous. If you are hurt by an airport bus, train, escalator, elevator, bag carrousel, X-ray machine, K-9, service dog, or anything else, we can help. Attorney Khatib has unique insight into airport environments because he worked at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) during his airline career.
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![A small white and blue aircraft parked on a tarmac, with fuel tanks and a fueling station in the background under a cloudy sky.]()
General Aviation
We handle injuries all across general aviation: Private charters (FAR Part 135), private carriage and fractional ownership (FAR Part 91), training and instructing, pipeline patrol, aerial photography, aerial surveying, crop dusting, banner towing, skydiving, aerial tours, and more. Attorney Khatib lives and breathes general aviation. He received his pilot’s license while still in high school and he has been flying ever since.
HOW WE CAN HELP
Practice Areas.
AIRLINE CRASHES AND ACCIDENTS
INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT INJURIES AND DEATHS
GENERAL AVIATION CRASHES AND ACCIDENTS
AIRLINE WHEELCHAIR INJURIES
AIRPORT INJURIES AND DEATHS
AIRLINE AND AIRPORT WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
IN-FLIGHT INJURIES
MOTOR VEHICLE INJURIES
CONTRACTS
ESTATE PLANNING
Your Lawyer.
Your Airline Insider.
Experience matters - and inside experience in the complex airline industry is a major advantage. Attorney Khatib has airline litigation experience, but most unique of all, he also has 18 years of experience inside the airlines. That’s why there is no better attorney than The Airline Lawyer to help you win your airline, airport, or general aviation injury case.
The Montreal Convention.
The Montreal Convention is an international treaty which standardizes airline liability rules for international flights. Most countries, including the United States, ratified The Montreal Convention. When a flight has an international itinerary and The Montreal Convention applies, it serves as the exclusive remedy for airline injuries and deaths.
Liability Under The Montreal Convention is summarized as follows…
Strict Liability (up to 151,880 SDRs): The Montreal Convention holds airlines strictly liable for passenger injury or death up to 151,880 Special Drawing Rights per passenger, which translates to roughly $200,000 in 2026. This means victims or their families do not need to prove the airline was negligent — they merely need to show there was an accident and prove their damages in order to hold the airline liable.
Unlimited Liability (above 151,880 SDRs): There is no financial cap on how much a victim or their family can claim under The Montreal Convention, however, airlines can defend themselves against claims over the strict liability threshold by showing the accident was not caused by their negligence.
Why Airlines Offer Early Settlement After Air Crashes.
After an airline accident, insurance underwriters usually send letters to victims and their families offering settlement and discouraging them from hiring lawyers. This is known as the “Tenerife Approach” or “Alpert Approach” and it is a strategy that airlines and their insurance adjusters have used since the 1970’s to reduce payouts.
Air crash victims and their families are extremely vulnerable; they may have lost a parent, child, or spouse; and they may be hospitalized with life-altering injuries, unable to work and accumulating massive medical bills. When airlines offer six or even seven figures to settle, there is a strong temptation to quickly sign and get the money. That’s a big mistake.
Signing the airline’s first settlement offer forecloses the opportunity to recover significantly more money with a lawyer — sometimes, the difference is in the millions of dollars. That’s why airlines are so eager to settle with victims who don’t have a lawyer — they get off cheap.
We Know Aviation.
Don’t hire any personal injury law firm for an aviation accident. Most car accident attorneys don’t know a flap from an aileron. Car accidents are the easiest type of injury case and that’s why there are approximately 150,000 car accident attorneys in the USA.
Aviation is highly technical and there are far fewer attorneys who handle airline accidents. Determining liability can be complex; there are pilots, dispatchers, air traffic controllers, aircraft manufacturers, parts suppliers, mechanics, fuelers and ground handling companies, and many other parties who may bear responsibility. The Airline Lawyer knows aviation. Attorney Khatib is an active pilot of over 25 years and worked for the airlines for over 18 years.
Airport Wheelchair Injuries.
Airlines often use suppliers with the lowest-paid workers at the airport to handle the most vulnerable passengers, including disabled passengers and unaccompanied minors. Airlines do this to try to shield themselves from liability and to cut costs. Some of these wheelchair pushers have minimal training or no training at all. When passengers inevitably get hurt, airlines try to minimize complaints to the DOT (Department of Transportation) by directing passengers to submit complaints to the airline. If you or a loved one are injured at the airport, you need a lawyer who knows your rights and knows the airline industry.
We Know Wheelchairs.
Attorney Khatib knows all about wheelchairs in the airline industry - he negotiated these contracts for nearly two decades. He even spent a year managing these suppliers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). Attorney Khatib knows that airlines have internal data which tracks wheelchair agents and each interaction they had with passengers. He knows about policies and regulations concerning maximum wait times for wheelchairs, unattended passengers, tip solicitation, and more. No other personal injury attorney has the unique airline experience of Attorney Khatib.
There is Never a Fee Until We Win for You.
We are so confident we can help you win that we take all injury and wrongful death cases on a contingency fee basis: our fee is a share of the recovery.
That means you pay us nothing upfront, and we don’t get paid unless we get you paid.
If an airline or its insurance company offers you a settlement before you hire us, tell us. We won't take any fee from an offer you disclose to us before hiring us. Since we didn't fight for that first offer, we don't believe we deserve any part of it, and we think other attorneys who charge a fee on something they didn’t fight for are ripping you off. The Airline Lawyer only takes a share of the extra money we recover for you.
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