Parties negotiating contracts can find themselves spending a great deal of time refining their contractual obligations, be they “reasonable endeavours”, “best endeavours”, “all reasonable endeavours” or some other standard. However, as a recent case highlights, the most important way of avoiding unwanted repercussions is certainty in the obligation itself.
The Court of Appeal had to consider a clause requiring the use of “best endeavours” and “all reasonable endeavours” to decide whether Blackpool Airport Limited (BAL) was in breach of contract when it declared that it would no longer accommodate Jet2.com’s wish to operate outside the normal hours of the airport. The contract itself was silent on the operation of flights outside such hours and BAL was incurring a loss accepting those arrivals and departures. More…