Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (8 May) welcomed the EU General Court’s ruling on discriminatory State aid favouring Condor over all other EU airlines.

The German Govt granted Condor over €525m in illegal State Aid in 2021, including over €204m for Covid-19 related damages and over €321m for restructuring support.

The General Court already annulled the European Commission’s unjustified initial decision regarding most of the Covid-19 compensation in 2021, and today’s judgement confirms that the over €321m State Aid received by Condor as liquidity support was also unlawful.

Over €40bn in discriminatory State subsidies were handed out to EU flag carriers during the Covid-19 pandemic. The EU General Court has ruled that the billions of euros in State aid received by SAS, Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, and certain Italian airlines were unlawful.

A Ryanair spokesperson said:

“One of the EU’s greatest achievements is the creation of a true single market for air transport. The European Commission’s approval of the German aid to Condor went against the fundamental principles of EU law. Today’s judgment confirms once again that the Commission must act as a guardian of the level playing field in air transport and cannot sign-off discriminatory State aid promoted by national Govts. The EU General Court’s intervention is a triumph for fair competition and consumers across the EU.

The Commission’s scrutiny of State aid in the aviation sector is now particularly relevant, given that during the Covid-19 pandemic, over €40bn in discriminatory State subsidies were handed out to EU flag carriers. The EU General Court has already ruled that billions of euros in State aid received by SAS, Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, and certain Italian airlines were unlawful.

The European Commission’s Directorate General for Competition has still not taken action to force recovery of this unlawful State aid, nor has it imposed any measures to remedy the damage to competition caused by the Swedish, Danish, German, Dutch, French, and Italian Govts. favouring their local airlines over other EU airlines, in breach of EU law. Today’s judgment further underlines the need for the European Commission to immediately act to recover these illegal State aid packages and order remedies to restore at least some of the damage done to competition and consumers.”