The EU General Court dismisses the claims of an airline seeking a State aid recovery decision against a rival on procedural grounds (Ryanair)

Another Case of Rescue Aid to an Airline* An undertaking does not have to be nationally “important” in order to qualify for rescue aid. Introduction The pandemic has been hard on airlines. For some of them, however, the pandemic simply exacerbated their already existing problems. On 18 May 2022, in case T‑577/20, Ryanair v European Commission, the General Court had to examine the case of State aid to Condor, the German low-cost carrier, which was close to the brink of bankruptcy despite the fact that itself seemed to be profitable. [1] The reason for this conundrum was that its owner, Thomas Cook, had collapsed under heavy debt. Ryanair appealed against Commission decision SA.55394 authorising rescue aid that had been granted to Condor by Germany. The Commission found the aid