Ryanair Wins Case at EU Court Challenging Aid for Competing Airlines

The European Union's second highest court dealt a blow to the European Commission on Wednesday, ruling that a complaint by Ryanair about state aid to other airline companies was justified.

The court annulled the commission's decisions approving coronavirus-related state aid to Dutch KLM and Portuguese airline TAP. The EU's competition watchdog had not given enough reasons why it allowed the money to be paid out, the court ruled on Wednesday.

However, the effects of the annulment - including the order to pay back the aid - are suspended until the commission submits a new decision. Effectively, this means that the EU General Court's judges are giving the commission a chance to issue a more detailed decision.

The commission had green-lighted state support of 3.4 billion euros (4.15 billion dollars) for KLM and 1.2 billion euros for TAP.

Ryanair took the commission to court in a slew of cases, arguing that this move distorted competition in the bloc.

While the court sided with Ryanair in the cases of KLM and TAP, it ruled that 10-billion-euro aid to "strategic Spanish undertakings experiencing temporary difficulties due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic" was appropriate.

Ryanair also lost similar cases related to Scandinavian SAS and Finnair last month, which a spokesperson said the company would appeal.

A Ryanair spokesperson welcomed Wednesday's decisions on TAP and KLM.

"Unless halted by the EU courts in line with today’s rulings, this state aid spree will distort the market for decades to come," the spokesperson said.

European Commission spokesperson Daniel Ferrie said his institution would "carefully study" the judgement.

The judgement can be appealed to the bloc's highest court - the European Court of Justice.

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