EU court annuls $6.6B German state aid for Lufthansa

BERLIN

The European Court of Justice on Wednesday annulled the approval of €6 billion ($6.6 billion) state aid to German airline Lufthansa during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Judges in Luxembourg ruled that the EU Commission’s approval of the German state aid in 2020 was “vitiated by several errors and irregularities” such as the misjudgment​​​​​​​ of Lufthansa’s significant market power at certain airports.

“The Commission committed several errors, in particular, by considering that Lufthansa was unable to obtain financing on the markets for the entirety of its needs, by failing to require a mechanism incentivising Lufthansa to buy back Germany’s shareholding as quickly as possible,” the court said in a statement.

Budget airlines Ryanair and Condor pursued a legal campaign against the EU Commission for approving the German state aid to Lufthansa, stressing that it was unfair and not compatible with EU laws.