Ryanair has lost a court case over airport subsidies, this time in Germany, but is still confident an appeal against the European Commission's (EC) ruling on the carrier's deal with Belgium's Charleroi Airport will put an end to a period of near constant court battles.
The latest case saw a court in Kiel in northern Germany rule the carrier's remuneration package with Luebeck Airport is "unreasonable" and ordered that the airport disclose all preferential terms given to Ryanair. The case was brought by Air Berlin, backed by the Federation of German Airlines. Air Berlin says the disclosure will reveal the true nature of the airport's deal with Ryanair, which it says forced the carrier to withdraw its Hamburg-London service. "Competition should be fair. It seems that this was not the case with Luebeck giving Ryanair subsidies," Air Berlin alleges.
Jim Callaghan, Ryanair's head of regulatory affairs, points out that there will be no change to the Irish low-cost carrier's deal with Luebeck as European guidelines on state aid for airports no longer apply to Luebeck because it is now in private hands. New Zealand-based Infratil purchased a 90% stake in the airport at the end of last year.
"The real issue is the need to get the Charleroi appeal heard. We are quite confident that the guidelines will then become irrelevant," says Callaghan.
He bemoans the fact that it is now two-and-a-half years since Brussels ruled that some aspects of the airline's contract with Charleroi were illegal. He claims established carriers have taken advantage of the Charleroi ruling to launch "anti-competitive" legal cases. ■
Source: Airline Business
