Ryanair to appeal EU order to repay €1.8m to Carcassonne airport

Ryanair says it will appeal a European Commission order requiring it to repay €1.8million received for marketing services from Carcassonne airport between 2001 and 2011. 

The Commission found that €8.9million was paid by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of Carcassonne-Limoux-Castelnaudary, the former manager of Carcassonne airport, for marketing services, but that 11 of the 16 contracts - worth €1.8 million - offered poor value for the airport and should not have been signed.

“The Commission found that 11 contracts conferred an advantage on Ryanair,” an EU statement said.

“The profitability of the contracts evolved to the benefit of Ryanair because CCI started paying higher marketing fees to Ryanair, for similar services, while reducing its passenger charges.”

Ryanair said it is “convinced” an appeal court will recognise the independence of the 2001–2011 agreements, which it said helped boost traffic and connectivity to a peripheral region. 

The company also accused EU competition authorities of being “selective and partial”, citing their approval of €40billion in Covid aid to national airlines, half of which courts later ruled illegal.

“We call on competition authorities to recover illegal aid from Lufthansa and Air France-KLM instead of wasting money on 25-year-old airport agreements,” Ryanair said.

Ryanair itself made the complaint against the €40billion Covid aid.

Its own investigation was triggered by an anonymous complaint.

A Commission spokesperson told The Connexion that it was “normal” for complainant identities to remain confidential, even if this prompts speculation about political or commercial motives.

“We received the complaint and investigated it. The irregularities are what concern us,” he said.

In France, CCIs are often closely linked to local politics.

The investigation also confirmed that €11.7million in subsidies to Carcassonne airport from the French state were legitimate under EU aviation development guidelines — €9 million for infrastructure and the remainder to support CCI operations.

The Chamber of Commerce, now part of CCI Aude, declined to comment on whether it will seek repayment from Ryanair.

The case is one of a series of EU and local investigations into Ryanair’s airport marketing deals. 

Similar cases include Limoges, where a judicial investigation continues, and Montpellier, where the airline was ordered in 2019 to repay €8.5million. 

In 2010, Charente officials accused Ryanair of “blackmail” over a €175,000 payment dispute at Angoulême airport, where the airline later ceased operations. A Poitiers court ordered Ryanair to pay €512,000 in damages for breaking that contract. 

The airport’s runway had previously been lengthened to accommodate aircraft such as the Boeing 737s used by Ryanair.

Ryanair still flies to Carcassonne, with flights this autumn to Stansted, Bournemouth and Manchester, as well as to other destinations.

In August the airline said it was cutting services to Bergerac, Brive and Strasbourg to protest against high taxes imposed in France.

The Dordogne Chamber of Commerce and Industry later told The Connexion that it was confident Ryanair would return for the summer 2026 season, and flights have since been confirmed between London Stansted and Bergerac on the airline’s summer schedule.

However, UK routes to Brive and Béziers, which also stop this winter, remain absent.