Ryanair loses final appeal against Austrian Airlines loan
Corrects to show Ryanair won (not lost) its challenge against Air France state aid, in paragraph 8
By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS, July 29 (Reuters) -Ryanair RYA.I lost its final fight against a state loan made to Austrian Airlines as Europe's top court on Monday sided with the EU competition authorities who approved it.
The 150-million-euro ($163 million) subordinated loan was granted to Lufthansa's Austrian unit in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Europe's biggest budget airline has launched more than 20 lawsuits against the European Commission for approving billions of euros in state aid to airlines during the pandemic saying the support gave those carriers an unfair advantage.
A lower tribunal in 2021 upheld the EU competition enforcer's 2020 decision, prompting Ryanair to appeal to the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
CJEU judges dismissed the appeal.
"The Court of Justice confirms the lawfulness of the subordinated loan of 150 million euros granted by Austria to Austrian Airlines in the summer of 2020," judges at the Luxembourg-based Court said.
"A member state may, for objective reasons, reserve to a single undertaking aid that is intended to make good the damage caused by an exceptional occurrence," they said.
The ruling is final and cannot be appealed. Ryanair has won its challenges against state aid granted to Lufthansa, Condor, KLM, Air France and TAP but lost its challenges against that for SAS and Finnair.
The case is C-591/21 P Ryanair and Laudamotion v Commission.
($1 = 0.9225 euros)
Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Jason Neely
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.