EU funds for holiday flyers Aid for Condor declared null and void

As of: 06/09/2021 1:00 p.m.

The EU court annulled a decision of the EU Commission that allowed German aid for the Condor airline. Ryanair had sued against the release. Ryanair has achieved a success against state corona aid for the German airline Condor before the EU court (EGG). The judges overturned the EU Commission’s decision to approve the aid. The decision of the Brussels authority was not sufficiently justified, said the court in Luxembourg. In practice, however, this initially has no consequences: the effect of the declaration of invalidity was suspended until the EU Commission has passed a new decision. This means that Condor does not have to repay the money immediately.

Loan of 550 million euros

Germany had registered the aid in favor of Condor in Brussels in April 2020. This involved two government-secured loans with reduced interest rates in the amount of 550 million euros. The background was damage caused by the cancellation or postponement of flights due to travel restrictions in the corona pandemic. The low-cost airline Ryanair complained, among other things, of violations of the free movement of services and filed a lawsuit against the release.

Connection with bankruptcy proceedings?

At Condor, the situation had worsened due to the bankruptcy of the parent company Thomas Cook in autumn 2019, which preceded the corona crisis. The airline was only able to continue working with rescue aid of 380 million euros, which was also approved by the EU. The insolvency proceedings initiated at the time had to be extended after the outbreak of the Corona crisis because the new owner, the Polish aviation company PGL, had jumped off. The 550 million euros in government aid also included costs that resulted from the extension of the insolvency proceedings at Condor. Ryanair had argued that the commission had not explained why it had even included the extended insolvency period when calculating the damage to Condor from the corona crisis. The Condor case is one of many in which Ryanair is taking action against state corona aid for competitors. So far, the plaintiff has succeeded in some cases but not in others. (Case T 665/20)