The Court
(43) takes the view that a delay must be assessed for the purposes of the compensation provided for in Article 7 of the Regulation, in relation to the scheduled time of arrival at the passenger's final destination as defined in Article 2(h) of the Regulation, which in the case of directly connecting flights must be understood as the destination of the last flight taken by the passenger.In accordance with Article 3(1)(a), passengers who missed a connection within the EU, or outside the EU with a flight coming from an airport situated in the territory of a Member State, should be entitled to compensation, if they arrived at final destination with a delay of more than three hours. Whether the carrier operating the connecting flights is an EU carrier or a non-EU carrier is not relevant.