Ryanair wins cases against Portuguese, Dutch state aid
Ryanair Holdings (CDI)
€14.41
17:14 17/12/21
Ryanair won partial victories in its campaign against state support for rival airlines when the EU's second-highest court ruled against €4.6bn (£4bn) of aid to Portuguese and Dutch carriers.
Air France-KLM
€9.96
17:19 24/04/24
Ryanair Holdings Plc
0.00p
07:45 20/03/24
Travel & Leisure
7,630.10
17:09 24/04/24
The EU's general court said the European Commission failed to explain properly in June 2020 why €3.4bn of government support for Air France-KLM and €1.2bn for TAP should be approved. The court said the airlines did not have to give the money back while they waited for new decisions by the commission
Ryanair has opposed state aid to rival airlines, arguing more than €30bn of support subsidised badly run companies and broke fundamental principles of EU law. Italy and Germany are among other countries that bailed out airlines during the Covid-19 crisis.
The budget airline said: "If Europe is to emerge from this crisis with a functioning single market, airlines must be allowed to compete on a level playing field. Today’s rulings in two of more than 20 appeals filed to date before the general court are an important victory for consumers and competition.”
The court ruled against Ryanair's challenge to Spain's €10bn support package for non-financial companies.