EU court rejects Ryanair challenge on Covid-related aid to flag carriers

A top EU court has rejected Ryanair’s legal challenges to airline subsidies triggered by the coronavirus crisis, which represents a victory for the 27-member bloc.

Judges at the General Court said that Brussels’ clearance of French and Swedish schemes did not discriminate against rivals.

The judgments indicate a win for Brussels, which at the start of the pandemic rushed to approve state aid regimes to help prop up companies partly hit by restrictions to travel.

In reference to the French scheme, the Luxembourg-based court said aid was “appropriate for making good the economic damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and does not constitute discrimination”.

With regards to the Swedish scheme, the court said that it was adopted “in the interest” of the bloc.

This is the first loss in the courts for the low-cost airline. Ryanair has said it will appeal in the hope that the courts will overturn the decision.

“Now is the time for the European Commission to stop caving in to national governments’ inefficient bailout policies and start protecting the single market, Europe’s greatest asset for future economic recovery,” Ryanair said in a statement shortly after the separate rulings.

European governments have poured billions of euros into helping their carriers through the disruption caused by the pandemic.

Ryanair has filed a string of cases to test the state aid rules in the European courts, and argues that support that is only made available to national flag carriers is discriminatory and undermines the EU’s single market in air travel.