Ryanair – ECJ

The European Court of Justice rejects all Ryanair’s arguments in a case against the European Commission, which concerns French and Swedish state aid to airlines. This means Ryanair loses the appeal, the European Court of Justice said on Thursday. In March 2020, France informed the commission that during the Covid pandemic, they would allow French airlines to postpone an aviation tax and tax on airline tickets. In Sweden’s case, Ryanair has criticised the fact that the state allowed for a loan guarantee of up to SEK five billion to help companies with Swedish licenses during the pandemic. The Commission gave the green light to the two aid measures, which Ryanair subsequently challenged before the Court of Justice.  In September, a judgment was handed down in another case brought by Ryanair. Here, the airline was after Scandinavian Airlines as it was believed that the Danish-Swedish airline had gained an unfair advantage through credit guarantees and that there was therefore discrimination between companies. The conclusion of the Court of Justice was that SAS had not received illegal state aid. /ritzau/