Deutsche Lufthansa AG
v
Flughafen Frankfurt-Hahn GmbH
case, accepting Germany's argumentation would amount to ‘radically denying the possibility of classifying as State aid the conditions on which a public undertaking offers its services where those conditions are applicable to all its contracting parties without distinction’(104). Advocate-General Mengozzi further remarked that
‘in my opinion, the Commission correctly observed, such an exclusion would not appear to be in line with either the case-law of the Court according to which public interventions which affect all the traders of a particular economic sector without distinction can also be selective in nature, nor with the various precedents where selective benefits arising from the provision of goods or services by public (or private) undertakings at identical rates or on identical conditions for all operators carrying on a specific activity were regarded as selective’(105).
7.3.1.6.
Distortion of competition and effect on trade
(392) A measure granted by a State is considered to distort or to threaten to distort competition when it is liable to improve the competitive position of the recipient compared to other undertakings with which it competes(106). For all practical purposes, a distortion of competition is thus assumed as soon as a State grants a financial advantage to an undertaking in a liberalised sector where there is, or could be, competition. The case law of the European Courts has established that any grant of aid to an undertaking exercising its activities in the internal market can be liable to affect trade between Member States(107).
(393) Since the entry into force of the third package on the liberalisation of air transport on 1 January 1993(108), air carriers can freely operate flights on intra-European connections. As the Court of Justice has observed,
‘where an undertaking operates in a sector in which … producers from various Member States compete, any aid which it may receive from the public authorities is liable to affect trade between the Member States and impair competition, inasmuch as its continuing presence on the market prevents competitors from increasing their market share and reduces their chances of increasing exports’(109).
(394) The Commission has found that FGAZ/FZG and the
Land
Rhineland-Palatinate granted a selective advantage to Germanwings, TUIFly and Ryanair. These airlines are active on a competitive, Union-wide market and the advantage they received was liable to improve their competitive position on that market. In this light, the Commission finds that the advantage granted to Germanwings, TUIFly and Ryanair is liable to distort competition and affect trade between Member States.
7.3.1.7.
Conclusion
(395) For the foregoing reasons, the Commission finds that Germanwings, TUIFly, and Ryanair have received State aid, amounting to approximately EUR 1 054 985, EUR 232 781, and EUR 464 879, respectively.
7.3.2. COMPATIBILITY
(396) The Commission notes that Germany has not advanced any arguments to show that the aid granted to TUIFly, Germanwings and Ryanair is compatible with the internal market.
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