The European Commission finds Ryanair to have received state aid

The European Commission has recently reviewed a number of public aid measures granted to airport managers and airliners on the basis of the 2014 Commission's Aviation Guidelines. In particular, in the cases of Angoulême Airport(Case SA.33963), Pau Pyrénées Airport(Case SA.22614) and Nîmes Airport(Case SA.33961), the Commission examined the airport service agreements and marketing agreements concluded by the managers of the airports of Angoulême, Pau Pyrénées and Nîmes Airport with Ryanair. The Commission assessed the aid measures granted to Ryanair on the basis of the principle of market economy operator. It ruled that the above agreements gave Ryanair an undue advantage over its competitors and that the agreements were unlikely to improve the financial conditions of the airports concerned. Therefore, no market economy operators would have granted such measures to Ryanair in similar circumstances. Aid granted to the airline was considered by the Commission as mere operating aid, which was not aimed at furthering any objective of common interest. Hereby, the Commission found the agreements to be in breach of state aid provisions and declared the aid granted to Ryanair not compatible with the internal market. As a consequence, the Commission imposed on Ryaniar the obligation to pay back the aid received by the airport managers that amounted to the comprehensive sum of € 9.668.000,00.



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