The Court of Justice of the European Union dismissed Ryanair’s appeal regarding €10bn worth of COVID-19-era Spanish state aid approved by Brussels in 2020.
The Spanish aid scheme was found to be proportionate and not discriminatory based on nationality, addressing temporary difficulties caused by the pandemic.
The Court agreed that the European Commission was not required to balance the positive and negative effects of the aid scheme on trading conditions and competition within the EU.
Ryanair criticised the EU competition authority for not recovering pandemic-era state aid granted to its rivals and highlighted rulings against airlines like Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, and SAS.
