The EU Commission qualifies an airport as a service of general economic interest and rules that the related compensation is a compatible State aid (Inverness Airport)

Introduction In the Inverness Airport case [1], the Commission ruled that the UK authorities has correctly qualified the Inverness Airport as a genuine service of general economic interest (SGEI). The Commission also ruled that the compensation awarded to the Inverness Airport for the discharge of the public service obligations (PSO) imposed on it was within the derogation in Article 106(2) TFEU. The act by which the SGEI was entrusted to the Inverness Airport met the compatibility conditions set out in the SGEI Framework. Accordingly, the aid granted to the airport was considered being compatible with the internal market. The legal background facts of the case Member States can invoke SGEI-related defensive arguments in the context of Article 107(1) relying on the Altmark doctrine to