Judgment of the General Court of 14 July 2021 — Ryanair and Laudamotion v Commission (Austrian Airlines; Covid-19)

(Case T-677/20) (1)

(State aid - Austrian air transport market - Aid granted by Austria to an airline amid the COVID-19 pandemic - Subordinated loan to Austrian Airlines - Decision not to raise any objections - Aid previously granted to the parent company of the recipient - Aid intended to make good the damage caused by an exceptional occurrence - Freedom of establishment - Free provision of services - Equal treatment - Duty to state reasons)

(2021/C 368/36)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicants: Ryanair DAC (Swords, Ireland), Laudamotion GmbH, (Schwechat, Austria) (represented by: E. Vahida, F.-C. Laprévote, V. Blanc, S. Rating and I.-G. Metaxas-Maranghidis, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: L. Flynn, F. Tomat and S. Noë, acting as Agents)

Interveners in support of the defendants: Federal Republic of Germany (represented by: R. Kanitz, J. Möller and P.-L. Krüger, acting as Agents), Republic of Austria (represented by: A. Posch, J. Schmoll, G. Eberhard and S. Weber, acting as Agents), Austrian Airlines AG, (Vienna, Austria), (represented by: A. Zellhofer, lawyer)

Re:

Application under Article 263 TFEU for annulment of Commission Decision C(2020) 4684 final of 6 July 2020 on State aid SA.57539 (2020/N) — Austria — COVID-19 — Aid to Austrian Airlines.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1.	Dismisses the action;

2.	Orders Ryanair DAC and Laudamotion GmbH to bear their own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission;

3.	Orders the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Austria and Austrian Airlines AG to bear their own respective costs.

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(1)  OJ C 9, 11.1.2021.