Aviation
The 3.4 billion euros in state aid that the Dutch government granted to airline KLM in 2020, in the midst of the corona crisis, is unlawful, the European Court of Justice ruled on Wednesday. The case was brought by Ryanair.
The state aid for KLM consisted of a loan and a guarantee for a bank loan. The intervention was intended to enable the company to get through the corona crisis. Like any other form of state aid, the intervention had to be ratified by the European Commission. However, the General Court of the European Union, part of the Court of Justice, has now annulled the Commission’s approval. The executive board of the European Union did not mention in the decision that in addition to KLM, the holding company Air France-KLM and the airline Air France could also benefit from the state aid. (blg)
Air France and KLM merged in 2004, but according to the Commission, only KLM and its subsidiaries could benefit from Dutch government support. Wrongly so, the Court rules.
Mostly refunded
The General Court had already annulled the Commission’s original decision in 2021. The consequences of that annulment were then suspended pending a new decision, but that second Commission decision has now also been annulled.
In a response, Ryanair says that the Commission must now demand that the Netherlands recover the state aid from KLM. However, the question is how this is possible in practice, because KLM has repaid all loans and terminated a credit facility in April 2023, so that it no longer uses the support provided.
