On appeal by Iraqi Airways Company (IAC) the Court of Appeal (Nourse, Leggatt and Simon Brown LJJ) reversed the ruling of Evans J and held that in removing and “keeping safe” the Kuwaiti aircraft IAC was acting in the exercise of sovereign authority, and accordingly, by virtue of section 14(2) of the State Immunity Act 1978, was immune from the proceedings brought by Kuwait Airlines. The Court of Appeal also held that, by applying for a stay of the default judgment and performance of the conditions subject to which a stay was ordered, IAC had not submitted to the jurisdiction of the English court within the meaning of section 2(3)(6) of the Act (Transcript, 23 October 1993).