EU top court rejects Ryanair appeal against SAS state aid

By Foo Yun Chee and Sudip Kar-Gupta

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Ryanair on Thursday lost its appeal against Danish and Swedish state aid to pandemic-hit SAS airline, which was approved by EU competition authorities, in one of a spate of challenges by the low-cost carrier against such subsidies.

The European Commission had in 2020 cleared two separate aid measures granted by Denmark and Sweden to SAS, involving a guarantee on a revolving credit facility of up to 1.5 billion Swedish kronor.

The Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) endorsed the EU competition watchdog, concurring with a judgement by a lower tribunal in 2021 which upheld the EU decision.

"State aid to SAS during the COVID-19 pandemic: the Court of Justice definitively dismisses Ryanair's actions concerning the loan guarantees put in place by Sweden and Denmark in April 2020," CJEU judges said.

Europe's biggest budget airline has launched more than a score of lawsuits against the European Commission for nodding through billions of euros in state aid to its rivals affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting travel restrictions.

It has a mixed record so far, winning some of its challenges and losing others.

The case is C-320/21 P Ryanair v Commission and C-321/21 P Ryanair v Commission.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee and Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Sharon Singleton)