Lowcost airline Ryanair today confirmed that it has learned that a draft report from the European Commission indicates that substantial parts of Ryanair's arrangements at Brussels Charleroi will be found unlawful.
Ryanair was responding to feedback from the Commission and had not actually seen the report.
The airline said that should the Commission decision rule that some or a substantial part of Ryanair's low cost base at Brussels Charleroi be ruled to be unlawful state aid then it will immediately launch an appeal to the European Court in Luxemburg.
Ryanair will seek to have the decision overturned on grounds of manifest error given that Brussels Charleroi complied with the market investor principle and offered the Ryanair package to a number of other airlines on a non-discriminatory basis.
Ryanair will also immediately enter into negotiations with both Brussels Charleroi and the Walloon Government to explore the possibility of the airport being privatised and a similar long term, low cost arrangement being put in place.
Ryanair said that if neither of these options are possible and if a negative decision is issued by the Commission, then Ryanair will be forced, temporarily, to close the base at Brussels Charleroi, while the appeal is pending. It will then transfer the aircraft and the routes to another privately owned European capital city airport, and then return when this negative decision can be overturned on appeal.
Ryanair's chief executive Michael O'Leary today highlighted other examples of low cost airlines obtaining long term discounted arrangements at publicly owned airports such as Easyjet at Berlin Schonefeld, Hapag Lloyd Express and Germanwings at Cologne Bonn Airport, MyTravelLite and Bmibaby at Manchester Airport in the UK.
