Ryanair to appeal court decision to allow state aid for Air France and SAS
Ryanair this morning said that it would appeal after an EU court dismissed its challenge over state aid given to rivals Air France and SAS.
Luxembourg’s General Court, the EU’s second highest legal body, backed the European Commission’s decision to grant discriminatory aid to the virus-hit carriers.
In its judgement, which was laid out earlier this morning, it said: “That aid scheme is appropriate for making good the economic damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and does not constitute discrimination”.
The Irish carrier, Europe’s largest budget flier, has brought 16 lawsuits against the Commission for various state aid programmes.
It has argued that such handouts will distort competition in the aviation market for decades to come.
As well as Air France and SAS, carriers such as Lufthansa, KLM, and TAP have all received whopping state handouts.
Responding to this morning’s judgement, Ryanair said: “During the Covid-19 pandemic over €30bn in discriminatory State subsidies has been gifted to EU flag carriers and, if allowed to stand, this will distort the level playing field in EU aviation for decades to come, giving chronically inefficient national airlines a leg up on their efficient low-fare competitors.
“We hope that the Court of Justice will overturn the European Commission’s approvals of the French and Swedish schemes, to give airlines and consumers a glimmer of hope that national politicians obsessed with their flag carriers will be sent back to the drawing board and required to use State aid wisely to assist the recovery of traffic in the post-Covid world instead of bailing out their favoured airline at the expense of fair competition and consumers.
“Now is the time for the European Commission to stop caving in to national governments’ inefficient bail-out policies and start protecting the single market, Europe’s greatest asset for future economic recovery.”
Unlike many European airlines, Ryanair has not received state aid from its government, choosing instead to bolster its formidable balance sheet through other means.
Michael O’Leary, the firm’s chief executive, has been a long-time opponent of state aid. Last year he threatened to sue the UK government after rumours emerged that it was planning to bailout collapsed regional carrier Flybe.