Judgment of the General Court Tenth Chamber, Extended Composition of 14 April 2021-- Ryanair v Commission SAS, Suède; Covid-19, 379/20

• Date: 14 April 2021
• Year: 2021

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Judgment of the General Court (Tenth Chamber, Extended Composition) of 14 April 2021 ,

Ryanair v Commission (SAS, Danemark; Covid-19), T-378/20

Link to the complete text of the judgment

and

Judgment of the General Court (Tenth Chamber, Extended Composition) of 14 April 2021 --

Ryanair v Commission (SAS, Suède; Covid-19), 379/20

Link to the complete text of the judgment

State aid – Danish air transport market – Aid granted by Denmark to an airline amid the Covid-19

pandemic – Guarantee – Decision not to raise any objections – Commitments as a condition to make the

aid compatible with the internal market – 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

In April 2020 the Kingdom of Denmark and the Kingdom of Sweden notified the European

Commission of two separate aid measures for SAS AB (‘SAS’), each involving a guarantee on a

revolving credit facility of up to 1.5 billion Swedish kronor (SEK).

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Those measures were intended to

compensate SAS in part for the damage resulting from the cancellation or r escheduling of its flights

after the imposition of travel restrictions amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

By decisions of 15 April 2020

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and of 24 April 2020,

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the Commission classified the notified

measures as State aid

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that was compatible with the internal market pursuant to Article 107(2)(b)

TFEU. In accordance with that provision, aid to make good the damage caused by natural disasters or

exceptional occurrences is to be compatible with the internal market.

The airline Ryanair brought actions for annulment of those decisions, which are, however, dismissed

by the Tenth Chamber (Extended Composition) of the General Court. In that respect, the Court

confirms for the first time the legality of individual aid measures adopted in order to address the

consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic in the light of Article 107(2)(b) TFEU.

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The Court’s assessment

In the first place, the Court rejects the plea that the aid that has been granted is incompatible with the

internal market because it is intended to make good the damage suffered by only one company. In

that regard, the Court notes that in accordance with Article 107(2)(b) TFEU aid may be intended to

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The aid measure adopted by the Kingdom of Sweden is individual aid which Sweden decided to grant to SAS as a company eligible for the

loan guarantees scheme in tended to support all the Swedish airlines amid the Covid -19 pandemic (‘the Swedish aid scheme ), which h ad

been notified to the C ommission by Sweden before the notification of the individual aid measure and which the Commission had approved

on 11 April 2020, pursuant to Article 107(3)(b) TFEU.

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Commission Decision C(2020) 2416 final on State Aid SA.56795 (2020/N) – Denmark – Compensation for the damage caused by the COVID-19

outbreak to Scandinavian Airlines.

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Commission Decision C(2020) 278 4 final on State Aid SA.570 61 (2020/N) – Sweden – Compensation for the damage caused by the COVID-19

outbreak to Scandinavian Airlines.

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Within the meaning of Article 107(1) TFEU.

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In its judgment of 17 February 2021, Ryanair v Commission, (T-259/20, EU:T:2021:92), the Court carried out a similar examination of the

legality of a State aid scheme adopted by the French Republic to address the consequences o f the Covid-19 pandemic on the French air

transport market. In its judgment of 14 April 2021, Rya nair v Commission, (T-388/20, EU:T: 2021:196), the Court carried out an examination of

another individual aid measure on the basis of Article 107(3)(b) TFEU .