EU investigating German, Austrian airports over ‘illegal aid’

In a statement, the European Commission said that it is also looking into capital injections and operating aid granted by German authorities to the airports at Saarbruecken, Zweibruecken, Luebeck-Blankensee and those provided by Austrian authorities to Klagenfurt airport.

The investigation, is the latest move by the Commission against airports suspected of receiving unfair aid. The Commission is also investigating possible illegal aid for airports in France, Sweden, Ireland, Hungary and Romania.

"On the basis of the information at its disposal the Commission cannot exclude that the measures in favour of the four airports and their customer airlines involve state aid which gives them an unfair advantage vis-à-vis their competitors and is thus incompatible with the internal market," the Commission  said.

It cited concerns with discounted user charges offered by Saarbruecken airport to Cirrus Airlines and Air Berlin, Zweibrueken airport's lower charges for Germanwings, TUIfly and Ryanair, and Luebeck-Blankensee airport's deals with Ryanair.

It also pointed to Klagenfurt airport's discounted scheme for Ryanair, TUIfly and Air Berlin.

Air Berlin, Germany's second-largest carrier, is partly owned by Gulf airline Etihad. TUIfly is controlled by German travel group TUI AG.

The Commission can order national authorities to recover aid if this is found to have infringed EU state aid rules.