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Commission approves €11.7 million of aid granted to Carcassonne airport and orders France to recover €1.8 million

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The Commission has approved €11.7m in state aid granted to the manager of Carcassonne airport between 2001 and 2011. The European Commission has also concluded that certain agreements signed over the same period between the Carcassonne airport and airlines operating at that airport (in this case Ryanair) amounted to around €1.8m in incompatible state aid. France will now have to recover this amount. 

The Commission found that, between 2001 and 2011, CCI received subsidies, mainly from local and regional authorities, including €9m to support investments to finance Carcassonne airport's infrastructure, as well as €2.7m to support CCI's operations. The Commission concluded that these €11.7m in subsidies granted to CCI are allowed under the Aviation Guidelines, the sectoral rules applicable to operating or investment aid to airports. The aid was necessary and proportionate to the objectives pursued, since it contributed to the necessary modernisation of the airport and the financing of its operating costs without generating excessive profits. The Commission also concluded that the aid would not unduly distort competition with nearby airports such as Castres-Mazamet, Perpignan, Béziers and Toulouse-Blagnac.

In the same period, CCI signed a number of agreements with Ryanair and its subsidiary AMS, which dealt specifically with marketing. The contracts concerned both marketing services and airport services agreements. CCI paid out a total of €8.9m to Ryanair and AMS for marketing services.

The Commission today concluded that 11 marketing and airport services agreements signed between CCI and Ryanair/AMS constituted incompatible State aid.

A press release is available online.

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