State aid: Commission adopts package of decisions regarding aid to airports and airlines in France and Germany; asks France to recover incompatible aid granted to airlines

The European Commission has adopted six decisions concerning public support granted to airports and airlines in France and Germany. The decisions are based on the Commission’s new guidelines on state aid to airports and airlines (see IP/14/172) adopted in February 2014 as part of its State Aid Modernisation (SAM) strategy.

The Commission has taken into consideration the importance of regional airports for local accessibility and economic development as well as the need to preserve a level playing field in the sector. The Commission has approved the state aid granted to the airports of Dortmund, Leipzig Halle, Niederrhein-Weeze, Pau, Angoulême and Nîmes, and found it to be in line with the Commission’s guidelines.

However, in the cases of Pau, Nîmes and Angoulême, the Commission has concluded that Ryanair, and, in the case of Pau, Transavia, received state aid which is incompatible with EU rules. The Commission’s analysis has demonstrated that these airlines paid less than the additional costs linked to their presence in the airport. These airlines therefore benefitted from an undue economic advantage, distorting competition in the Single Market. France must now recover the incompatible aid from the companies that received it in order to restore the level playing field.

Commission Vice President Joaquín Almunia in charge of competition policy said: “EU state aid rules in the aviation sector allow public authorities to grant support where it is justified, namely where it improves the accessibility of a region and meet citizens’ transport needs. However, taxpayers’ money should not be used to grant an undue advantage to certain airlines, distorting competition in the Single Market”.

The Commission has also extended the scope of its investigation concerning possible state aid to Ryanair at Klagenfurt airport (Austria).

For more details on the decisions adopted today, see MEMO/14/498.

There are still 11 ongoing formal investigations about State aid to airports and airlines.