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European Union state aid regulators have ordered Ryanair and TUI's TUIfly to repay millions of euros in illegal aid given by an Austrian airport. Certain airport services and marketing agreements between the operator of Klagenfurt airport in southern Austria and Ryanair, TUIfly and HLX - which was merged with Hapagfly in 2007 to create TUIfly - gave the carriers an undue advantage, the EC said Friday. "As no profit-driven airport manager would have concluded such loss-making agreements, they amount to state aid to the airlines. Moreover, the agreements simply reduce the operating costs of the airlines, without contributing to common transport objectives," it said, without providing details on the contracts. The Commission said it estimated the illegal aid to Ryanair at around E2m, to TUIfly at 1.1m and to HLX at 9.6m. The companies will have to repay the money to Austria. Ryanair said it would fight the EU ruling. "We note the Klagenfurt decision, where we stopped flying in 2013. We disagree with the findings and have instructed our lawyers to appeal," a Ryanair spokesman said. TUI's German arm said it would examine the EU’s reasoning once it had received it and would then decide on the next steps. A spokesman noted the Commission's ruling referred to transactions that were nearly 10 years in the past and that airline HLX no longer existed.<br/>

Nok Air slipped further into the red in the third quarter with a net loss of 1.07b baht, widening from a 652.62m-baht loss in the same period last year. The result brought cumulative losses of the SET-listed budget airline for the first nine months to 2b baht. In a filing to the bourse yesterday, CFO Nuanwan Bhuprasert broke down the total loss to 959m baht incurred by the parent firm and 113m by its affiliate long-haul low-cost carrier NokScoot. She attributed Nok Air's operating losses to lower than expected revenue growth and higher operating expenses because of fleet expansion and aircraft maintenance. <br/>