Brussels, 24/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - Irish low-cost airline Ryan air must repay nearly €9.6 million in state aid from France because the European Commission says the aid does not comply with EU state aid rules, announced the European institution on 23 July. The aid in question relate to the regional airports of Angoulême, Pau and Nîmes.
The Transavia company will have to repay around €400,000 in aid received in relation to the regional airport at Pau.
The Commission says that the airport service and commercialisation agreements signed from 2003 to 2011 between Pau/Pyrénées Airport and Ryanair/AMS, and a contract signed with Transavia in 2006, gave the companies an unfair economic advantage. Ryanair/AMS must therefore repay around €2.4 million and Transavia around €400,000.
Ryanair must also repay around €6.4 million in unlawful state aid received in Nîmes. For Angoulême Airport, the Irish airline must reimburse an unfair advantage of around €868,000 related to contractual discounts and marketing agreements. Ryanair says it is planning to appeal against the decisions.
Klagenfurt. The Commission has decided to extend an in-depth investigation that began in February 2012 into financial agreements for the airport of Klagenfurt in Austria. The initial investigation was into an airport services supply contract and a marketing contract between Ryanair and one of its subsidiaries in January 2002. The Commission doubts that the contracts were signed under market conditions because they seem too favourable to Ryanair. Having recently learned of the existence of two other agreements with Ryanair and its subsidiaries, the Commission says the four agreements can be investigated together. (EL)