@EUCourtPress: #EUGeneralCourt annuls @EU_Commission ’s decision approving Romanian aid to Timișoara International Airport in favour of @wizzair #StateAid

#EUGeneralCourt annuls @EU_Commission’s decision approving Romanian aid to Timișoara International Airport in favour of @wizzair #StateAid 👉 https://t.co/ATb3CgbPxg

— EU Court of Justice (@EUCourtPress) February 8, 2023

Judgment of the General Court in Case T-522/20 | Carpatair v Commission
The General Court annuls the decision of the European Commission
approving Romanian aid to Timișoara International Airport in favour of
Wizz Air
The Commission committed several errors of law when examining whether those measures were selective and
whether they conferred an advantage Timișoara International Airport, located in the west of Romania, is operated by Societatea Națională ‘Aeroportul Internaţional Timişoara – Traian Vuia’ SA (AITTV), a joint stock company in which the Romanian State holds 80% of the shares.
In preparation for the increase in traffic that was expected to result from Romania’s accession to the European
Union in 2007, and in order to meet the security requirements for acceding to the Schengen area, AITTV received
financing from the Romanian State for the construction of a terminal for non-Schengen flights and for security
equipment.
Furthermore, in 2008, as part of a strategy intended to attract low-cost airlines and to increase the overall
profitability of the airport, AITTV signed agreements with Wizz Air Hungary Légiközlekedési Zrt. (‘Wizz Air’), a
Hungarian low-cost airline, determining the principles of their cooperation as well as the terms and conditions for
the use of the airport infrastructure and services by Wizz Air (‘the 2008 agreements’). Two of those agreements were
amended in 2010 by way of a new discount scheme agreed between Wizz Air and AITTV (‘the 2010 amendment
agreements’). Under the Aeronautical Information Publications (‘AIPs’) of 2007, 2008 and 2010, Wizz Air also received
discounts and rebates on airport charges.
In 2010, the Romanian regional airline Carpatair SA submitted a complaint to the European Commission challenging
aid granted by the Romanian authorities to Timișoara International Airport in favour of Wizz Air.
By decision of 24 February 2020 (‘the contested decision’), the Commission considered, first, that the public
financing provided in the period between 2007 and 2009 to AITTV for the non-Schengen terminal development, the
improvement of the taxiway and the extension of the apron and the lighting equipment, constitutes State aid which
is compatible with the internal market within the meaning of Article 107(3)(c) TFEU. 1 Secondly, the Commission
found that the public financing of the access road and the development of the parking area in 2007 and for the
security equipment in 2008, the airport charges in the 2007 AIP, 2008 AIP and 2010 AIP, and the 2008 agreements
with Wizz Air, including the 2010 amendment agreements, do not constitute State aid within the meaning of
Article 107(1) TFEU.
Carpatair SA brought an action for the annulment of that decision in so far as the Commission found that neither… read more https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2023-02/cp230024en.pdf