Ryanair will have to checkout.
The European Commission ruled on Tuesday that the low-cost airline had benefited from state aid "
incompatible with EU rules
", concerning La Rochelle airport (Charente-Maritime), between 2003 and 2010 She thus calls on France to recover their amount from Ryanair, ie 8.4 million euros.
Same fate for the British low-cost company Jet2, which will have to return 81,000 euros in illegal state aid to France.
Following an investigation opened ten years ago, in 2012, Brussels estimated that "
several airport service contracts and marketing service contracts concluded by La Rochelle airport between 2003 and 2010 with the airlines Ryanair and Jet2
” did not comply with the legal framework for state aid.
These public subsidies (low airport charges, performance fees, payments for marketing services, etc.) are, in fact, authorized so that airports or regional authorities can "
attract price-sensitive airlines
", but “
subject to certain conditions
”.
“
An unjustified economic advantage
”
However, these were not respected in the context of certain contracts concluded between La Rochelle airport and the airlines, between 2003 and 2010, decided Brussels.
They "
gave an unjustified economic advantage to Ryanair and Jet2 over their competitors, in that a profit-driven airport operator would never have agreed to grant similar conditions to these airlines in the same circumstances
,” writes the Commission.
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On the other hand, the Commission deemed compatible several other aid measures granted by France, between 2001 and 2012, to La Rochelle airport.
Others did not constitute state aid, Brussels considered.
The Commission also issued its decision on Friday on state aid granted to Beauvais airport (Oise), as well as on discounts and marketing agreements concluded between the airport and its client airlines.
None of these contracts and subsidies has been deemed incompatible with European rules.
