L_2016113EN.01003201.xml
| 27.4.2016 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | L 113/32 |
COMMISSION DECISION (EU) 2016/633
of 23 July 2014
on State aid SA.33961 (2012/C) (ex 2012/NN) implemented by France in favour of Nîmes-Uzès-Le Vigan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Veolia Transport Aéroport de Nîmes, Ryanair Limited and Airport Marketing Services Limited
(notified under document C(2014) 5078)
(Only the French text is authentic)
(Text with EEA relevance)
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 108(2) thereof (1),
Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and in particular Article 62(1)(a) thereof,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2408/92 of 23 July 1992 on access for Community air carriers to intra-Community air routes (2),
Having called on interested parties to submit their comments pursuant to those articles (3) and having regard to their comments,
Whereas:
1. PROCEDURE
| (1) | By letter dated 26 January 2010, the Commission received a complaint about advantages that the airline Ryanair Limited (‘Ryanair’) was allegedly enjoying at a number of regional and local French airports. In the case of Nîmes Airport, the complaint also mentioned financial support allegedly received by the successive bodies operating the airport, Nîmes-Uzès-Le Vigan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (the ‘CCI’) and Veolia Transport Aéroport de Nîmes (‘VTAN’). |
| (2) | By letter dated 16 March 2010, the Commission sent France a non-confidential version of the complaint and asked it for explanations concerning the measures at issue. France sent answers by letters dated 31 May and 7 June 2010. |
| (3) | By letter dated 2 November 2011, the complainant sent additional information in support of its complaint. The Commission forwarded this information to France and asked it for additional information by letter dated 5 December 2011. On 22 December 2011 France requested an extension of the deadline for replying, to which the Commission agreed by letter dated 4 January 2012. France submitted its comments and answers by letter dated 27 February 2012. |
| (4) | By letter dated 26 April 2012, the Commission informed France of its decision to initiate the procedure (the ‘opening decision’) under Article 108(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) on the potential aid to the CCI, VTAN and Ryanair. |
| (5) | By letters dated 29 May and 28 June 2012, France requested two extensions of the deadline for replying to the additional information requests made in the opening decision. On 31 July 2012 France submitted its comments together with the information and documents requested by the Commission in the opening decision. |
| (6) | The Commission decision was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (4) on 10 August 2012. The Commission invited interested parties to submit their comments on the measures in question within one month of the date of publication. |
| (7) | The Commission received comments from interested parties. On 24 September 2012 the CCI, VTAN and the Syndicat Mixte pour l’aménagement et le développement de l’aéroport de Nîmes-Alès-Camargue-Cévennes (‘SMAN’) jointly submitted their comments. Airport Marketing Services Limited (‘AMS’) submitted its comments on 3 October 2012. Ryanair likewise submitted a series of comments on 3 October 2012. Moreover, on 20 July 2012, 10 April 2013, 20 December 2013, 31 January 2014 and 7 February 2014, Ryanair submitted general comments common to all the State aid cases initiated by the Commission with regard to Ryanair. |
| (8) | By letters dated 24 June 2012, 3 May 2013 and 9 January 2014, the Commission sent France the comments made by interested parties. The Commission gave France the opportunity to reply to these comments. France replied to these letters by its own letters dated 13 July 2012, 16 November 2012, 3 May 2013 and 3 February 2014. In its letter of 13 July 2012, it informed the Commission that the comments received required no comment from France, apart from those already submitted on Marseille airport. Moreover, France informed the Commission that it did not wish to reply to the comments made by third parties. |
| (9) | By letter dated 18 October 2012, the Commission asked France to provide further information. France replied on 3 December 2012. |
| (10) | By letter dated 23 December 2013, the Commission again asked France to provide further information. By letter dated 24 December 2013, France requested an extension of the deadline for replying. The Commission agreed to this extension by letter dated 6 January 2014. France requested a further extension of the deadline by letter dated 5 February 2014. The Commission agreed to this extension by letter dated 11 February 2014. By letter dated 19 February 2014, France submitted partial answers. In view of the missing information, the Commission sent a reminder to France by letter dated 19 March 2014. France replied by letter dated 10 April 2014. |
| (11) | By letter dated 20 March 2014, the Commission again asked for further information. France replied by letter dated 25 April 2014. In view of the missing information, the Commission sent a reminder to France by letter dated 13 May 2014. France replied by letter dated 26 May 2014. Finally, the Commission requested further information by letter dated 23 June 2014. France replied by letter dated 1 July 2014. |
| (12) | The Commission sent letters to France and the interested third parties that had submitted comments informing them of its intention to assess the compatibility of the aid measures in question with the internal market based on the ‘Guidelines on State aid to airports and airlines’ (5) (‘the new Guidelines’). The Commission invited the recipients of these letters to comment in this respect, if they so wished. In addition, on 15 April 2014 a notice was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (6) inviting France and interested third parties to submit their comments in this respect. |
| (13) | Air France submitted its comments in this respect on 25 April 2014. Ryanair did likewise on 27 March 2014 and VTAN on 23 April 2014. In addition, the non-governmental organisation Transport & Environment submitted its comments on 12 May 2014. These various comments were forwarded to France, which did not comment on them. |
2. FACTS
2.1. AIRPORT CHARACTERISTICS AND TRAFFIC
| (14) | Nîmes-Garons airport (‘Nîmes airport’) lies 12 km to the south of Nîmes, which is the main town in the department of Gard, within the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France. This airport is open to national and international commercial traffic. Nîmes airport is approximately 60 km from the airports of Montpellier and Avignon, 90 km from Marseille-Provence airport and 120 km from Béziers-Cap d’Agde airport. |
| (15) | According to France, the main runway, which measures 2 040 m × 45 m, is capable of handling Code C aircraft (A319, A320, A321, B737-800) without any restrictions for European legs. France puts the airport’s theoretical capacity at a maximum of 700 000 passengers. |
| (16) | Until 2011 Nîmes airport was mainly a military aerodrome, with civil aviation forming only a secondary activity. It therefore had an airbase and a civilian base. The airbase was closed on 2 July 2011, since when Nîmes airport has been mainly a civilian airport, with its military use becoming secondary. |
| (17) | From 1965 to 2000, the only passenger traffic was on the Nîmes/Paris route operated by Air France. However, use of this route fell when a TGV high-speed rail service started operating. In November 2001 Air France stopped operating the Nîmes/Paris route. The airline Air Littoral took over this route, which it operated until July 2003. |
| (18) | Since June 2000 Nîmes airport has been used by the airline Ryanair, initially for one scheduled route to London Stansted. In 2005 the London Stansted route was replaced by a route to London Luton, with a new route to Liverpool being launched. In 2006 Ryanair started operating two new routes: one to Charleroi and the other to East Midlands. From 2007 the number of flights to Liverpool was drastically cut, and the route to East Midlands was permanently withdrawn in 2009. Ryanair currently operates international flights from Nîmes to Liverpool, London Luton, Charleroi and Fez. |
| (19) | Ryanair became the main operator at Nîmes airport in 2001, and since 2003 has been the only operator offering scheduled services from this airport. |
| (20) | Nîmes airport’s passenger traffic in recent years is summarised in Table 1 in this recital. Table 1 Traffic at Nîmes airport (1999-2012) by number of passengers
| | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | | Total passengers | 297 150 | 277 521 | 319 378 | 231 122 | 134 444 | 156 581 | 206 128 | 226 887 | 225 701 | 224 458 | 180 027 | 176 521 | 192 474 | 184 850 | 195 319 | |
2.2. SUCCESSIVE AIRPORT OPERATORS AND OWNERS
| (21) | Operation of the civilian area of the airport was initially entrusted to the CCI by Order of 15 March 1965 (‘the 1965 Order’) in the form of a public equipment concession for a period of 60 years from 1 January following the concession’s being granted, i.e. to 1 January 2026. The concession was supplemented by an order authorising temporary occupation (‘AOT’) of approximately 6 ha of additional land, granted on 12 November 1986 (7). The state terminated the concession on 31 January 2006 (8). |
| (22) | A schedule of conditions was annexed to the 1965 Order. This schedule set out the |
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