In Ryanair v European Commission (T-500/12) (5 February 2015) the CJEU found that the Commission had rightly found that tax rate differentials amounted to state aid.
In March 2009 Ireland introduced air travel tax (ATT) which was charged directly to airline operators. In July 2012 the Commission found that state aid which took the form of a lower ATT rate of €2 was incompatible with the internal market. This lower rate was applicable to all flights operated by an aircraft capable of carrying more than 20 passengers departing from an airport with more than 10 000 passengers per year to a destination no more than 300km from Dublin airport.
This was an application to annul the key parts of the Commission’s decision.
The CJEU observed that the concept of aid is more general than that of subsidy and includes measures which are similar in...
