Ryanair has welcomed the EU General Court ruling that a EUR 2.4 billion ($2.6bn) Covid-19 state aid grant made by the Netherlands to Air France-KLM in 2020 was illegal. This is the second time the court has deemed this aid package to be illegal, after the Commission failed to ‘correct the errors made in its original decision when it essentially re-issued it in 2021, ignoring the Court’s first ruling in this case,’ states Ryanair.
“The European Commission’s approval of the Dutch State aid to Air France-KLM went against the fundamental principles of EU law, like a principle of non-discrimination on the basis of nationality,” said a Ryanair spokesperson, who added that “the Commission must act as a guardian of the level playing field in air transport and cannot sign-off discriminatory State aid issued by national governments.”
The low-cost Irish carrier is now calling on the European Commission to order the Netherlands to ‘immediately recover this multi-billion euro illegal State aid package from Air France-KLM and impose adequate remedies to repair at least some of the damage to competition done by this massive State bailout’.
“During the Covid-19 pandemic over EUR 40bn ($43bn) in discriminatory State subsidies was gifted to EU flag carriers,” confirmed the spokesperson, who added that “today’s judgement underlines the need for the European Commission… to recover these illegal State aid packages and order remedies to restore at least some of the damage done to competition”.
“Unjustified subsidies… encourage ineffectiveness and will harm consumers for decades to come,” concluded the Ryanair spokesperson.
Ryanair welcomes EU court ruling on state aid for Air France-KLM
