General Court dismisses Ryanair’s challenge to French and Swedish State aid schemes for airlines

The General Court has delivered its judgments in Cases T-238/20 and T-259/20, Ryanair v Commission, dismissing actions brought by the Ireland-based low cost airline against French and Swedish State aid measures adopted in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis to support airlines holding national licences.

These are the first judgments by an EU court on State aid measures adopted to grant relief as a consequence of the COVID-19 crisis. Ryanair has challenged other State aid measures concerning other airlines, such as the recapitalisation of Finland’s Finnair, a State loan guarantee, in addition to a loan, for Netherlands’ KLM and a 380 million-euro loan to German charter airline Condor, among others.

With regard to Case T-259/20,