Brussels, 10/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the European Commission decided to launch a formal investigation into several arrangements of Flughafen Schönefeld GmbH, which owns and operates Berlin Schönefeld airport. The publicly owned company has, since 2003, concluded several bilateral contracts with airlines based at the airport. These might, the Commission says, constitute illegal and incompatible state aid, as they offer these airlines lower airport charges than those provided for in the published airport charge regulation. Furthermore, Flughafen Schönefeld GmbH offers marketing support to these companies and has concluded an exclusive agreement with one airline. This consists of an exclusive use agreement for Terminal B of the airport and lower airport charges than the published charges. (ol)