Ryanair won European Union (EU) court challenges against billions of euros of state aid for rival Air France-KLM, in the latest round of the Irish carrier’s campaign against allegedly unfair subsidies doled out during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The EU’s General Court on Wednesday annulled the bloc’s approvals for the aid in rulings in Luxembourg.
The European Commission approved €7 billion in French aid and a separate €4 billion recapitalisation during 2020 and 2021, aimed at giving Air France-KLM some breathing room as it confronted one of the worst crises to hit the airline industry.
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Ryanair – Europe’s biggest discount airline – has filed more than two dozen challenges to the vast amounts of state aid given by governments to local carriers, arguing the measures shouldn’t have been waved through by the EU’s executive because they distorted competition in the industry.
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A lower EU court in May toppled the EU’s approval of a €6 billion German recapitalisation for Deutsche Lufthansa, which the airline is challenging. – Bloomberg
