The European General Court annulled decisions taken through the European Commission in 2020 and 2021 authorising French state aid to Air France (AF, Paris CDG) for the Covid-19 pandemic, on the grounds that Air France-KLM and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL, Amsterdam Schiphol) would also have benefited from financial merit vis-à-vis the group’s competitors.
This case is one of many that Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) and its subsidiary Malta Air (MAY, Malta International) have filed against the aid that many governments of the European Union member states have granted to airlines to help them have an effect of the pandemic, in general. Favor domestic airlines over cheap airlines.
In its judgment of 20 December in cases T-216/21 (Ryanair and Malta Air v Commission (Air France; Covid-19)) and T-494/21 (Ryanair and Malta Air v Commission (Air France-KLM and Air France ; Covid-19)), the Luxembourg Court summarized that “when there are reasons to be concerned about the effects on the festival of an accumulation of state aid within the same group, it is up to the Commission to exercise specific vigilance by examining the links between the companies belonging to said group.
It said that Brussels had “erred in defining the beneficiaries of the state aid granted by excluding the Air France-KLM holding and KLM.”
After examining the economic and operational links between the holding companies, the context in which the measures were granted, the types of aid in question and the context, it concluded that ‘the holding company Air France-KLM (in the first case) and KLM (in the present case) in a position to benefit, at least indirectly, from the merit conferred by the state aid in question.
As ch-aviation reported at the time, at the end of April 2020, France had declared to the European Commission a €7 billion ($7. 6 billion) aid package that it was going to grant to Air France, which, according to the Commission, is the sole beneficiary of the aid. It also reported that KLM was contemplating tactics to disengage from Air France, as the French and Dutch governments were not coordinating their respective rescue plans.
In March 2021, France notified the Commission of new aid in the form of a recapitalisation of Air France and Air France-KLM, still KLM, for a total amount of €4 billion ($4. 4 billion), which Brussels temporarily approved.
In both cases, the Commission chose not to object that the measures constituted aid compatible with the EU’s internal market. Ryanair and Malta Air challenged those decisions, arguing that the measures were contrary to EU law and that the European executive had misexplained the beneficiaries of the aid by deciding that Air France-KLM (in the first decision) and KLM (in both decisions) were not beneficiaries. The court agreed. An appeal may be lodged within two months and ten days of the decision.
Reacting to the decision, Air France said it and Air France-KLM had complied with state aid exit rules, but that airlines “will conscientiously examine those rulings and assess their implications. “the European Union on a point of law.
In its own statement, Ryanair said that “the court’s intervention is a triumph for trade fairs and for consumers across the EU” and that it “now calls on the European Commission to order France to withdraw this illegal state aid of billions of euros from France without delay. “Air France-KLM and impose remedies good enough to repair at least some of the damage done to the festival by this great state bailout. “
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Transavia Airlines (HV, Amsterdam Schiphol) has taken delivery of its first A321-200N, while its French sibling, Transavia France (TO, Paris Orly), is expected to enter service soon with its first A320-200N.
PH-YHZ (msn 11702) is the first of seven A321-200N aircraft leased to Air Lease Corporation. Its original delivery was scheduled at Amsterdam Schiphol on December 7, 2023, but the plan was delayed due to mechanical damage at the manufacturer’s site. Although the official delivery took place on December 15, the Dutch cheap airline will send the plane to Amsterdam Schiphol until December 19.
Meanwhile, A320neo F-GNEO (msn 11918) has already been painted into Transavia France’s livery and operated its first flight on December 15, 2023 (still as F-WWDD), ch-aviation research revealed.
Transavia Airlines lately operates an exclusively Boeing fleet consisting of 4 B737-700s and 40 B737-800s (ten of which are leased to Air Lease Corporation), while Transavia France’s fleet includes seventy-one B737-800s, as shown in the complex chapter. Aviation Fleet Module. . He’s going to make the transition. . .
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