Ryanair to repay €4m subsidy

NO-FRILLS airline Ryanair has agreed to repay the €4 million subsidy relating to its operations at Charleroi in Belgium that fell foul of the European Commission earlier this year.

The company said yesterday that it would make the payment to take the pressure off the Walloon regional authority, which owns the airport at Charleroi and had provided Ryanair with discounted fees and marketing support to attract more business.

The commission declared some of these arrangements illegal in February, saying they constituted state aid that distorted competition, and told the authority to reclaim the money.