The airport in Timisoara serves over 1.6 million passengers annually and it is the third largest in Romania, the Commission said in a statement.
In May 2011, following a complaint filed by Carpatair, a company operating on the European air transport market, and based on other information, the Commission set off an in-depth inquiry to ascertain whether some measures taken in favour of the Timisoara Airport and Wizz Air observed the EU rules on state aid. The inquiry targeted mainly the public financing granted to the administrator of the Timisoara airport, between 2007 and 2009; the schemes on airport taxes and related reductions adopted in 2007, 2008 and 2010, respectively; the agreements concluded in 2008 between the administrator of the airport and Wizz Air, namely: (i) a memorandum of understanding, (ii) a marketing agreement, (iii) an exploitation agreement and (iv) and a ground handling agreement (jointly called “the agreements of 2008”), as well as the non-foreclosure of airport taxes charged on Wizz Air for the period between October 2009 and February 2010.
The Commission found that some public funds received by Timisoara Airport between 2007 and 2009 had been used to finance the airport’s non-economic activities or failed to give any economic advantage to the airport. Consequently, they do not constitute state aid. The rest of investments covered from public funds were fully compatible with the EU rules of 2005 regarding state aid, the Guidelines for the aviation sector, valid at that time. The schemes on airport charges of 2007, 2008 and 2010, including the rebates and discounts, were applied in the same way to all airlines operating on Timisoara Airport. This means the respective schemes were not selective, therefore, they did not constitute state aid. The agreements of 2008 with Wizz Air were progressively profitable for the airport and a prudent operator on the market economy would have concluded this type of agreements. Consequently, these measures did not constitute state aid.
The outstanding airport charges Wizz Air was supposed to pay were offset by the airline’s receivables related to payments for marketing services, in accordance with the valid legislation.