EU court dismisses Ryanair challenge over $700 million Polish state funding for LOT

Ryanair has lost a court appeal against €650 million ($701.2 million) of Polish state aid granted to the country’s flag carrier LOT, after the European General Court sided with EU competition authorities which allowed the cash subsidy.

Ryanair had originally claimed the European Commission should have opened a full investigation into the aid but did not.

The Commission in its 2020 decision said the Polish aid, which consisted of a €400 million ($431.5 million) subsidised loan and a €250 million ($269.7 million) capital injection, was necessary and appropriate to help LOT weather the crisis.

The General Court has now sided with this decision.

This case against the Polish carrier is part of Ryanair’s broader legal case against COVID-19-related state aid given to European national airlines, including Air France and Lufthansa, with the airline claiming this funding distorted the European market.

Most recently in February, the General Court dismissed Ryanair’s challenge against the European Commission’s approval of rescue aid for TAP Air Portugal during the pandemic.

TAP Air was granted €1.2bn ($1.25bn) by Portugal in June 2020 to support the airline through the pandemic. The original plan was to support the airline from June to December 2020.

Ryanair challenged this decision in a complaint to the court about the aid in 2021, stating that the European Commission had not followed the proper procedure for approving it. The EU General Court had original sided in favour of Ryanair's complaint.