Ryanair Welcomes EU Ruling on Unlawful State Aid

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Ryanair News
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News Release
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29.01.09
Ryanair Welcomes EU Ruling on Over €1bn in Unlawful State Aid to Air France

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline, today (29th Jan) welcomed yesterday’s decision by the European Commission to disallow unlawful State aid to Air France in the form of reduced airport charges on domestic routes in France. The Commission’s investigation resulted from Ryanair’s State aid complaint in May 2006 against the over €1 billion in State aid received by Air France in the form of these unlawful domestic route discounts.

Ryanair’s Jim Callaghan said:

“Yesterday’s decision confirms yet again that flag carriers throughout Europe have been, and are, in receipt of billions of euros in State aid, while the Commission has been wasting time pursuing tiny regional and secondary airports, like Charleroi, for, what the Courts have now found, were commercial arms-length deals with Ryanair, easyJet and other low fares airlines.

Following the recent dismissal by the European Court of First Instance of the Commission’s flawed 2004 Charleroi decision, yesterday’s decision is a second significant victory for European consumers and low fares airlines in less than two months. The Commission should now recognise the benefits of low fares air travel to regional and secondary airports, and start promoting low-cost regional airport development similar to Charleroi, Tampere, Lübeck, Schönefeld, Alghero, Pau, Aarhus, Bratislava and Hahn.

Ryanair regrets that the Commission did not order Air France to repay the €1 billion in unlawful State aid, which it received between 1997 and 2008 in the form of reduced domestic airport charges within France. Nevertheless, yesterday’s decision is a welcome change in the Commission’s record of ignoring State aid to Europe’s flag carrier airlines.”