Lower rate of Irish air travel tax is illegal aid, EU court says

The European Court of Justice ruled Wednesday that Ireland's leading airlines must pay back air travel taxes because the lower rates granted by the govt for shorter flights between 2009 and 2011 were illegal subsidies. The court upheld a decision by the EC that Ryanair and Aer Lingus had benefited from unlawful state aid. Ryanair and Aer Lingus went to the court in Luxembourg after the Commission said Ireland was wrong to waive E8 (US$8.32) per passenger for domestic flights. "The advantage in question did not consist in the fact that those airlines were able to offer more competitive prices than their competitors," the Court said. "It resulted quite simply from the fact that those companies had to pay a lower amount than they would have had to pay if their flights had been subject to the standard rate." <br/>