Carpatair wins the annulment of the illegal state aid provided by Timisoara Airport to Wizz Air

Carpatair announces that recently it has obtained the annulment of the state aid provided by Timisoara Airport – a state owned company, to its competitor Wizz Air after the Court of Appeal of Pitesti, Romania, on November 14th, 2012 uphold the previous ruling of the Timis Tribunal and decided on irrevocable cancellation of the state aid provided by Timisoara Airport to Wizz Air. It has been established that the global discounts granted by Timisoara Airport through a dedicated discount scheme on all the aircraft and passenger airport charges published on 26 August 2010 in AIP Romania (Aeronautical Information Publication), represents illegal state aid and the court subsequently decided on the annulment of the respective measure.

A year earlier, on 30 August 2011, Timis Tribunal has admitted the request of Carpatair and cancelled the illegal state aid granted by Timisoara Airport through the global discounts scheme applied on airport aircraft and passenger charges amounting to up to 85%. The solution of the Appeal Court of Pitesti is just the first irrevocable decision pronounced in the series of cases open by Carpatair against Timisoara Airport to cancel the state aid granted to Wizz Air since 2008 under various forms.

To pronounce this judgment, the Court of first instance has retained that the rebates granted through the discount scheme cannot be justified from economical point of view, on one hand, and it has become clear that the huge discounts on airport charges were applicable to a single air operator on the other hand. Essential for the ruling’s delivery was also the fact that the state aid has not been previously notified to the European Commission and has been implemented in the absence of the European Commission approval.

In accordance with the Romanian and EU legislation, after the irrevocable ruling of the Court of Appeal of Pitesti, the beneficiary of the state aid will have the obligation to pay back the received aid to the airport while on the other hand through the same ruling, as an injured party, Carpatair has obtained the legal grounds to claim from Timisoara Airport the payment of damages suffered as a result of the anticompetitive behavior.

According to Carpatair estimations the total amount of the illegal state aid provided solely by Timisoara Airport to Wizz Air under various forms from 2008 until now exceeds 10.0 M Euro. The extent of the illegal aid provided by other airports poses a great concern over the total dimension of the competition distortion and the damages caused to other airlines.