General Court rules on Lufthansa’s action against operating aid to Frankfurt-Hahn Airport
In Case T‑218/18 RENV, the General Court dismissed an action brought by Deutsche Lufthansa AG seeking the annulment of a 2017 Commission decision (SA.47969) approving operating aid of up to EUR 25.3 million granted by Germany to Frankfurt-Hahn Airport. Lufthansa, whose main hub is Frankfurt am Main, argued that the aid to its regional competitor had not been properly assessed and challenged the Commission’s failure to open a formal investigation under Article 108(2) TFEU. However, the GC found the action inadmissible, as Lufthansa had not sufficiently specified whether its legal arguments concerned a violation of its procedural rights or the substantive legality of the decision. Referring to the ECJ’s ruling in C‑466/21 P, which had previously overturned an earlier General Court judgment in the same case for insufficient reasoning, the Court reaffirmed that private applicants must clearly distinguish between claims based on procedural rights and those challenging the merits of State aid approval. As Lufthansa failed to meet this procedural threshold, the case was rejected without addressing the substance of the aid assessment.
You can read the full judgment here.