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Ryanair plane in Nuremberg
Photo: Daniel Karmann / dpa
The Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) has dismissed a lawsuit by the Irish airline Ryanair against a German rescue loan for the German airline Condor worth millions.
After the insolvency of the Condor parent company Thomas Cook, Germany registered a cash injection of 380 million euros in favor of Condor, which was approved by the EU Commission.
This aid was compatible with EU law, the court said on Wednesday.
Ryanair had challenged the decision of the EU Commission and, among other things, claimed that there was no formal examination procedure before approval.
The court rejected this.
In addition, Ryanair could not refute that Condor's financial difficulties were mainly due to the insolvency of the parent company Thomas Cook.
In its lawsuit, Ryanair argued that Condor's financial difficulties were caused by an arbitrary distribution of costs within the Thomas Cook group.
The judgment can still be appealed to the European Court of Justice.
Bankruptcy averted
The aid, notified in September 2019, aimed to maintain regular air traffic and limit the negative impact on Condor caused by the insolvency of its parent company.
At the time, the EU Commission also emphasized that the loan would “contribute to the proper maintenance of flight services in the interests of passengers”.
The loan was subject to strict conditions.
Condor had recently found a new investor and thus averted the impending insolvency.
The asset manager Attestor took over 51 percent of the shares in the airline.
The company recently had 4,000 employees.
800 employees had already left the company during the restructuring.
beb/dpa