Air Berlin launch fresh legal challenge to German airport’s Ryanair fees
25.06.08
Air Berlin has filed a complaint against Luebeck airport with the German Federal Court of Justice, claiming the airport granted special conditions to rival Ryanair, Leipziger Volkszeitung reports today. The German Association of Airlines sees the case as a possible precedent for future cases related to airports subsidising airlines, the newspaper said.
The European Commission last year launched formal state aid investigations into several airports including the one in Luebeck for signing contracts offering airlines lower airport charges than those proposed by published airport charge regulation. Luebeck airport concluded a contract with Ryanair in 2000 that the Commission at the time said may constitute illegal and incompatible state aid.
The Schleswig-Holstein Higher Regional Court threw out Air Berlin's previous challenge to the agreement last month, ruling the airline can not contest subsidies granted to its competitor. Ryanair called the fresh claims ‘doomed’ and ‘baseless’. Luebeck airport is privately held, so it can freely negotiate its fees, the budget airline said in a statement. It added that Air Berlin was offered a similar cost base to Ryanair at the airport, but refused to take up the offer.
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