Ryanair welcomes EU court ruling on pandemic state aid to rivals

Ryanair has welcomed the May 10 ruling by the European Union General Court that the European Commission was wrong to approve the €6bn in German state aid given to Lufthansa during the Covid travel meltdown. Ryanair in 2021 challenged handouts to Lufthansa and other carriers, including Denmark’s and Swedens granting of €1bn to Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), arguing that the payments were discriminatory and anti-competitive. The court’s judgement was that the commission erred in its justifications for approval as it did not give sufficient consideration to whether Lufthansa could have raised a non-negligible amount via financial markets. “While the Covid-19 crisis