Lufthansa finally failed with its lawsuit against state aid for the now insolvent Frankfurt-Hahn Airport before the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The court rejected the appeal lodged by Lufthansa against the judgment of the EU court in May 2019, the ECJ announced on Thursday in Luxembourg. The inadmissibility of the action was thus confirmed. Lufthansa had sued against loans and guarantees from the state of Rhineland-Palatinate for the airport in the period from 2009 to 2011, which had been approved by the EU Commission in 2014. According to the court, she argued with competitive disadvantages because the financial aid would have benefited the competing low-cost airline Ryanair directly.
The initially responsible EU court dismissed the lawsuit in 2019 because Lufthansa was not individually affected by the aid to the airport.
The ECJ has now determined that there was no legal error in the judgment.
Because Lufthansa did not show that it would have suffered a loss in sales or losses as a result.
(AZ: C-594/19 P)