The European Commission (EC) has announced it has opened an in-depth investigation into measures in favour of Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) at Frankfurt Hahn to determine whether they constitute illegal state aid. The EU administration will also investigate the support granted to the airport itself.
"We will investigate whether regional and local authorities in Germany, against the rules, gave an unfair advantage to Ryanair over its competitors, potentially harming other airlines and having spill-over effects on other regions in Europe," EU commissioner in charge of competition Margrethe Vestager said.
The Commission will check several agreements between the airport and the Irish LCC both from before 2009, when the airport operator FFHG was controlled by Fraport AG, and from between 2009 and 2017, when it was controlled by the State (Land) of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The Commission will also probe whether a guarantee granted to FFHG with respect to a sale of land to an aircraft maintenance company and a measure related to the sale of a plot of land by FFHG were in line with the EU rules governing state aid.
In 2017, the local government sold 82.5% of shares in FFHG to HNA Group.
The European Commission investigated Hahn airport three times in the past already. In 2014, it ruled that airport charges and marketing agreements concluded with Ryanair were either not formally state aid or they were legal under the EU rules. Also in 2014 and again in 2017 the Commission also cleared the financial support granted to the airport by the local government.
According to the ch-aviation capacity module, Ryanair is by far the largest passenger operator at Hahn with 76 weekly departures and an 88.9% market share by capacity. The only other passenger airline flying to the airport is Wizz Air. Hahn also sees significant long-haul cargo traffic.
