The Commission’s new aviation state aid guidelines

By financing reduced user fees (subsidies) to airlines, the Commission will encourage more flights. All this is in the midst of a massive political fight to preserve what’s left of the EU’s flagship climate legislation to reduce aviation emissions. The Commission openly acknowledges that operating aid is the most distortive form of aid. It has always been illegal but now the Commission intends to sanction past illegal practices by legalising them! The winner will be the subsidised airlines – like Ryanair – and cheap air travel for those who fly. The losers will be those who don’t fly, government budgets and the climate. For more information, please see our briefing below.