The European Union's highest court told a lower tribunal to look again at its annulment of billions of euros in state aid for airline KLM amid the coronavirus pandemic, a setback for rival Ryanair, which has been challenging Covid support for other carriers.
Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair had appealed approvals for 3.4 billion euros ($3.82 billion) in state aid for Dutch airline KLM and a 321 million-euro restructuring plan for German airline Condor in the wake of the pandemic.
The EU's general court, the bloc's second highest, sided with Ryanair at the time.
However, the Court of Justice of the European Union on Thursday partially dismissed the annulment of KLM's aid and said the general court should reassess Ryanair's challenge.
Judges also dismissed the general court's previous separate ruling that canceled Condor's aid package.
Ryanair said it took note of the decisions and that in similar cases, EU courts had ruled that aid received by some carriers were unlawful.
Condor said it welcomed the decision, adding it provided clarity regarding the original approval.
Air France-KLM said it too welcomed the decision and that all support received by Air France-KLM, Air France and KLM during the pandemic had already been repaid with interest.
The European Commission said it took note of both decisions.
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