Ryanair’s appeal has been rejected by the EU Commission against €10.4bn paid to Air France-KLM in separate state aid from France and the Netherlands.
The commission has ruled that the aid was necessary to remedy the economic impacts of the pandemic on the group, as travel restrictions led to high operating losses.
The General Court initially annulled the state aid approvals, stating that other group members besides Air France and KLM also benefited from the aid.
The aid was in the form of state-guaranteed loans and state loans, with the group repaying the aid measures by June 2022 and April 2023. It is still pending decisions from the Court of Justice of the European Union following appeals. The decision will have not impact on these appeals.
The Air France and KLM cases were previously wins for Ryanair. It then lost an appeal on a EUR600m cash injection to Finnair and a legal challenge pertaining to pre-pandemic state aid to Condor.
Ryanair has appealed over 20 state aid approvals for state carriers in different courts.
Margrethe Vestager of the EU commission said “Air France-KLM Group is a major network airline playing a key role in both the Dutch and French economies. As a result of the imposition of travel restrictions to limit the spread of the coronavirus, Air France-KLM Group suffered a significant reduction of its services, which resulted in high operating losses. Following the General Court judgments annulling the initial decisions, the Commission has found that EUR10.4bn in liquidity support to Air France-KLM Group complies with state aid rules. Air France-KLM Group required the state guarantee and the state loan to obtain vital liquidity to face the difficult coronavirus period and they were granted in line with the Temporary Framework, irrespective of the definition of the beneficiary,”
