There is no stopping for Ireland-based Ryanair DAC , that is now seeing some positive development in it's challenge against European carriers, when the European Court of Justice agreed to hear in its General Court a review of the European Commission’s approval of state aid to Greece’s Aegean Airlines.
Ryanair v Commission (T-340/21) against the European Commission’s decision of 23 December 2020 to approve State aid for Greek airline Aegean Airlines (SA.59462 (2020/N) , Greece , COVID-19: Damage compensation for Aegean Airlines).
The case is not One off , 'Cyprus mail' sources say , Ryanair has taken it up on many fronts and Ryanair's arguement is that specific provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the general principles of European law that have underpinned the liberalisation of air transport in the EU since the late 1980s (i.e., non-discrimination, free provision of services and free establishment) had not been respected.
Earlier , On 14 July 2021, the General Court handed down a judgment on an appeal by Ryanair to challenge a European Commission state aid decision approving, under Article 107(2)(b) of the TFEU, the grant of aid by Austria to support Austrian Airlines AG in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We can expect a prolonged battle as the ruling by the EU’s highest court will simply allow the litigation to go forward; and it will be treated as a victory for Ryanair which has pursued litigation for what it alleges is misapplied state aid in 16 lawsuits against the Commission.
Ryanair says, EU Commission’s spineless approach to State aid since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis has allowed Member States to write open-ended cheques to their inefficient zombie flag carriers in the name of faded national prestige.
In the month of May, the budget airline won two victories in its fight against billions of euros extended in state aid to rivals as Europe’s second-highest court annulled the support given to KLM and Portugal’s TAP on the grounds that regulators failed to justify the huge cash injections.
Ryanair commented in a statement after the ruling,
“The European Commission’s approvals of state aid to Air France-KLM and TAP went against the fundamental principles of EU law and reversed the clock on the process of liberalisation in air transport by rewarding inefficiency and encouraging unfair competition.”
But Ryanair has not been able to make this argument in every case.
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It is the same court that rejected Ryanair’s challenge to a €10 billion Spanish fund for virus-hit companies approved by the European Commission, saying the measure complied with EU law.
Ryanair also suffered a setback when the Court backed Lufthansa’s challenge to the Commission’s 2017 decision allowing state aid to Frankfurt Hahn airport, where the Irish carrier was the main beneficiary.
“During the Covid-19 pandemic over €30 billion in discriminatory state subsidies has been gifted to EU flag carriers. Unless halted by the EU Courts in line with today’s ruling, the effects of market distortion caused by this State aid will be felt for decades.
If Europe is to emerge from this crisis with a functioning single market, the European Commission must stand up to national governments and stop rubberstamping discriminatory State aid to inefficient national airlines,” Ryanair commented after the ruling.
