An EU court on Wednesday overturned the EU’s approval of Germany’s state aid to charter airline Condor, but suspended enforcement of its ruling to give the European Commission time to make a new decision on the case.

Condor has received aid worth 550 million euros ($ 600 million) from the German government and the regional state of Hesse to keep it afloat during the coronavirus crisis.

The airline was already in insolvency proceedings which had to be extended because an interested buyer retracted its offer.

The committee, however, approved German aid to the airline, taking into account the damage suffered by Condor due to travel restrictions due to the pandemic and the costs incurred by the extension of the insolvency proceedings.

Following the lawsuit brought by Ryanair, the General Court of the European Union said that it could not establish that the travel restrictions had led to the failure of the sale of Condor.

However, due to the “adverse consequences for the German economy” if the aid was immediately canceled, the court said it was suspending the execution of its decision “pending the adoption of a new decision by the Commission “.

hmn / dlc / spm