Lufthansa is threatened with defeat before the ECJ in the dispute over subsidies for Frankfurt-Hahn Airport. In May 2021, the EU court had upheld a lawsuit by the German airline and overturned the multi-million dollar support from the state of Rhineland-Palatinate for Hünsrück Airport. On Thursday, however, the ECJ expert Priit Pikamäe recommended that the court overturn the judgement. The opinions are not legally binding, but the judges at the ECJ often follow them.
In 2017, the EU Commission allowed the state of Rhineland-Palatinate to cover operating losses of 25.3 million euros from 2017 to 2021. Lufthansa, which does not use Han Airport, saw the support for airport operations as distorting competition and had therefore sued. Top dog in the passenger business at Hahn Airport is Europe’s largest low-cost airline Ryanair.