Brussels, 28/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 28 January, the European Commission accepted the measures taken by France to put an end to the differentiation of charges per passenger between national flights and flights to and from countries of the Schengen zone. Further to a complaint tabled by a low-cost airline, the Commission has examined the rules applicable in France for setting the level of airport charges. It concluded from these that the differentiation in the level of charges between these two categories of flights constituted state aid which is incompatible with the single market. In the meantime, France has adopted the measures necessary to get rid of this aid. Since the first half of 2008, tariff differentiation between the charges per passenger for national flights and those for flights to and from the countries of the Schengen zone has been removed from French airports, with the exception of the Paris airports, for which the tariffs will be uniform with effect from 1 April 2009. As regards flights to and from member states outside the Schengen area, tariff differentiation may be practised only by airport operators if this is justified by the costs for the use of infrastructure, which vary depending on the nature of flights. (O.L./transl.fl)