Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) has been directed to repay EUR318'569 (USD406'497) to the German treasury after a European Commission investigation into agreements between Flugplatz Altenburg-Nobitz GmbH, the operator of Altenburg Airport, and the Irish budget carrier were found to constitute illegal state aid.
Situated on the former military airfield of Altenburg in the Thuringia region in the former East Germany, Altenburg-Nobitz airport has never served more than 150 000 passengers per year. Between 1 May 2003 and 31 March 2011, Ryanair was the only airline operating scheduled flights from the airport. No scheduled flights have operated from the airport since.
The EC said in a statement that although it had cleared 2003 and 2008 airport service and marketing agreements concluded between Flugplatz Altenburg-Nobitz GmbH and Ryanair as having been done under market terms and therefore not violating the bloc's regulations governing state financial assistance, the same could not be said for a later marketing agreement signed in 2010.
"Indeed, the 2010 marketing agreement could not have been reasonably expected to improve the financial situation of the airport when it was entered into. No private operator would have accepted similar conditions. Therefore, the arrangements involve state aid. Moreover, the aid is not in line with the applicable aviation aid guidelines, in particular because the 2010 agreement, combined with the two 2003 agreements, had no prospect of becoming profitable, even in the long term," the EC said.
"The combination of these three agreements therefore provided Ryanair/AMS with an undue economic advantage, estimated at around EUR318'569, that the company now needs to pay back to Germany, in order to reduce the distortion of competition in the Single Market."
Ryanair has said it will appeal the ruling.
