Ryanair
Ryanair files more than a dozen lawsuits against the European Commission and various airlines over state-aid grants by European governments. Credit: © Ryanair DAC.

Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair has revealed plans to appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) over the EU’s rulings for state aid benefiting flag carrier airlines.

The move follows after the airline lost its fight against government bailouts granted to Air France and Scandinavia’s SAS.

Ryanair alleged that the EU Court’s rulings on French and Swedish State aid schemes favoured the state-owned airlines over all other EU airlines.

The General Court of the EU ruled that the state bailouts awarded by the French and Swedish governments did not breach state-aid rules.

Ryanair has been protesting €30bn in aid given to EU flag carriers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A Ryanair spokesperson said: “Ryanair is a truly European airline. We have no rich and powerful ‘home country’ to subsidise us in times of trouble. Nor do we want discriminatory aid.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic over €30bn in discriminatory state subsidies has been gifted to EU flag carriers and, if allowed to stand, this will distort the level playing field in EU aviation for decades to come, giving chronically inefficient national airlines a leg-up on their efficient low-fare competitors.

“We hope that the Court of Justice will overturn the European Commission’s approvals of the French and Swedish schemes, to give airlines and consumers a glimmer of hope that national politicians obsessed with their flag carriers will be sent back to the drawing board and required to use state aid wisely to assist the recovery of traffic in the post-Covid world instead of bailing out their favoured airline at the expense of fair competition and consumers.”