Ryanair Holdings Plc won a European Union court challenge to topple regulatory approval for a €6 billion-euro ($6.6 billion) recapitalization of Deutsche Lufthansa AG amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The EU General Court in Luxembourg on Wednesday annulled the European Commission’s decision, saying its assessment included “several errors” and that it was wrong to consider that Lufthansa “was unable to obtain financing on the markets for the entirety of its needs.”
Ryanair also won a separate bid to topple the EU’s 2020 approval of similar aid to SAS AB.
The commission in June 2020 approved the Lufthansa measures, saying a government plan to take a 20% stake in Europe’s largest airline was in line with the bloc’s state-aid rules and would prevent the carrier’s collapse.
The EU approval covers the German government’s plan to pay 300 million euros for a 20% stake and make two so-called silent participations of €4.7 billion and €1 billion in the company’s capital.
Lufthansa’s $6.7 Billion German Recapitalization Gets EU Nod
