Ryanair notches first court wins in fights against EU Covid-19 aid for weaker rivals 

Airline has filed over two dozen challenges to EU approvals for pandemic aid doled out by governments to carriers including Lufthansa and Air France-KLM

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary. The airline said the two rulings in its favour were 'an important victory for consumers and competition', calling the EU’s aid approvals 'discriminatory'. Picture: Leah Farrell

Ryanair notched up the first wins in its campaign to topple billions of euros of Covid-19 bailouts for rival carriers after EU judges faulted EU regulators for failing to properly check whether aid was justified.

The EU General Court, the second-highest court, overturned the European Commission’s approval of a €3.4bn Dutch subsidy to Air France-KLM and €1.2bn offered by Portugal to TAP.