Blow to Ryanair as court rules subsidies ‘illegal’

A FRENCH court has dealt a blow to Ryanair with a ruling that subsidies given to the airline by the chambers of commerce in the city of Pau were illegal.

The Pau-Bearn Chamber of Commerce had given the carrier €80,000 to support the opening of a route to London’s Stansted Airport from the city in the south-west of France. The deal was changed to a fee of €11 per passenger up to a limit of €400,000 a year.

In addition to the money, the airline also got a cheap landing fares deal at the airport and other benefits including preferential rates for ground-handling charges.