Ryanair wins Belgian aid appeal

Ryanair said the Commission should end complaints against other airports

Budget airline Ryanair does not have to repay the money it got to encourage it to stay at Charleroi airport in Belgium, a European court has ruled.

The court upheld Ryanair's challenge against the European Commission, saying EU officials had made a mistake.

In 2004, the European Commission had said 4m euros of incentives paid to Ryanair had been illegal state aid.

Ryanair said the ruling "clarifies that the low cost airports model works and does not involve state aid".

It urged the Commission to dismiss complaints against other small airports.

Economic impact

In 2004, the European Commission ruled that discounts on landing fees and ground handling services at the publicly-owned airport near Brussels should be repaid because they could be classified as illegal subsidies under European Union anti-trust rules.

But Ryanair said at the time that setting up and maintaining a base at Charleroi, at a cost of 40m euros, exceeded any discount it got from the Walloon region.

At the same time, the authorities in Charleroi, a region of high unemployment south of Brussels, had expressed their concern about the economic impact on the local community should Ryanair no longer use the destination.

The European Court of First Instance said that the deal between the Walloon region and Ryanair should have been considered as a private commercial deal.

"By entering into the first agreement with Ryanair the Walloon region carried out activities of an economic nature," it said.