Record of Agreement
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brüssel, 23.02.2012 C(2012) 1011 final In the published version of this decision, some information has PUBLIC VERSION been omitted, pursuant to articles 24 and 25 of Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 laying down detailed rules WORKING LANGUAGE for the application of Article 93 of the EC Treaty, concerning non- disclosure of information covered by professional secrecy. The This document is made available for information omissions are shown thus […]. purposes only. Subject: State aid SA.24221 – C/2011 (ex NN/2011; CP 281/2007) – Austria – Klagenfurt Airport – Ryanair and other airlines Sir, The Commission wishes to inform Austria that, having examined the information supplied by your authorities on the aid/measure referred to above, it has decided to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 108(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. 1. PROCEDURE (1) By letter of 5 October 2007 a competitor of Ryanair on the European air passenger transport market, which has requested not to have its identity disclosed , lodged a complaint with the Commission alleging that the Irish Airline Ryanair plc (hereinafter: "Ryanair") has been granted unlawful State aid by the Federal State of Carinthia, the City of Klagenfurt, Kärnten Werbung Marketing & Innovationsmanagement GmbH (hereafter: “Kärnten Werbung”) and the Airport of Klagenfurt via its operating company Kärntner Flughafen Betriebsgesellschaft mbH. (2) By letter of 11 October 2007 the Commission has forwarded the complaint to Austria and requested information. The Austrian authorities responded by letter dated 2 January 2008. Seiner Exzellenz Herrn Dr. Michael SPINDELEGGER Bundesminister für europäische und internationale Angelegenheiten Ballhausplatz 2 A - 1014 Wien Commission européenne, B-1049 Bruxelles/Europese Commissie, B-1049 Brussel – Belgium Telephone: 00- 32 (0) 2 299.11.11. (3) The Commission requested additional information from the Austrian authorities by letters dated 15 November 2010 and 24 March 2011. The Austrian authorities responded by letters dated 28 January 2011 and 30 May 2011. (4) On 8 April 2011 the Commission requested information from Ryanair. Ryanair submitted the information by letter dated 4 July 2011. On 15 July 2011 the Commission forwarded the submission of Ryanair to the Austrian authorities, which provided their comments by letter of 20 September 2011. 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE FACTS 2.1. Klagenfurt Airport (5) Klagenfurt Airport (hereafter: "KLU" or "the Airport") is located in the Land Carinthia, about 4 km of the city centre of Klagenfurt, the capital of Land Carinthia, which is situated in the touristic region of Wörthersee. (6) Klagenfurt Airport is owned and operated by Kärntner Flughafen Betriebs GmbH (hereafter: "KFBG") which is held by Klagenfurt city (20%) and Kärntner Landes- und Hypothekenbank-Holding (80%). According to publicly available information the 80% share of the State of Carinthia in the Airport had been transferred onto Kärntner Landes- und Hypothekenbankholding in November 2008. (7) The capacity of the Airport terminal is 600,000 to 650,000 passengers per year which is unchanged since 2000. Operating hours are from 6 to 23:30 hours since the 80s. The capacity of the runway is unchanged since 2000. Table 1: traffic figures at KLU year total passengers movements freight in kg 2000 235 503 8 325 78 931 2001 226 701 7 133 67 159 2002 259 717 6 894 29 939 2003 313 557 6 979 47 347 2004 486 274 8 81 57 881 2005 552 697 8 907 53 212 2006 409 004 7 718 41 563 2007 469 033 8 103 34 894 2008 429 889 7 679 23 935 2009 410512 7 785 30 153 2010 425 933 7 482 13 443 (8) The main airlines using the Airport are: Austrian Airlines, Germanwings, Ryanair, Air Berlin, Condor, Lufthansa and charters. (9) In 2010 the carrier with the most passengers was Air Berlin ([…] % of the passengers), followed by Austrian Airlines […]%), Lufthansa and Ryanair (each […]%) and Germanwings ([…]%). (10) In the past also TUIfly contributed a considerable amount of passengers and stopped services in 2010. Ryanair had a peak in 2004 and 2005. In 2005 Ryanair cancelled the flight connection to London-Stansted for economic reasons without stating any details. Air Berlin and Germanwings started services in 2009. Table 2: passenger numbers by airline […] (11) The profit and loss accounts of KFBG show that it has been loss making in ordinary activities in 2002 and 2004-2009 and that the shareholders have made contributions to the budget from 2002 to 2006. Table 3: financial development of KFBG 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Balance 847,470 615,877 67,901 857,682 158,922 586,710 -64,573 729.385,75 912.548,2 266.297,07 990.954,46 sheet profit Profit or 1,137,601 836,992 -89,510 380,114 -1,445,108 -760,566 -690,040 -588.996,41 -491.951,8 -1.204.315,92 466.342,43 loss on ordinary activities Net loss/ 952.169,13 615.877,08 -86.532,46 330.133,33 -1.446,9 -748,3 -1.214,4 -769.896,4 -633.451,8 -1.204.315,92 462.954,46 profit (Jahresfehl- betrag) Share 0 0 181680 559644 1,605,780.10 1.344.979,10 1.149.887 1.563.855,0 0 0 0 -holder contribution Auflösung 0 0 0 0 0 1.563.855,0 1.546.000,0 1.508.000,0 528.000,0 von Kapital- rück- lagen Gewinn- 847.470,13 847.470,13 615.877,08 67.901,23 857,7 158.921,82 -64.572,84 -64.572,84 729.385,75 912.548,2 266.297,07 /Verlust- vortrag aus dem Vorjahr Table 4: Non-aviation revenues covered by the obligation of professional secrecy 2.2. The catchment area (12) Klagenfurt Airport is situated at the following distances /travelling time by car to other airports: - Ljubljana airport: 71 km, 1 h - Graz airport: 128 km, 1 h 10 - Maribor airport: 137 km , 1 h 47 - Trieste airport: 203 km, 1 h 51 - Salzburg airport: 223 km, 2 h - Venezia airport: 282 km, 2 h 34 - Treviso airport: 290 km, 2 h 43 (13) The business report of the Airport of 2010 identifies seven competing airports in the catchment area of KLU. KLU is connected with a bus shuttle service to Ljubljana1. 2.3. Entities involved 2.3.1. Destinations Management GmbH (14) Destinations Management GmbH (hereafter: "DMG") is a 100% subsidiary of Kärntner Flughafen Betriebs GmbH. 1 http://www.klagenfurt-airport.com/default.aspx?SIid=10&LAid=2&ARid=159 2.3.2. Kärnten Werbung, Marketing & Innovationsmanagement GmbH (15) Kärnten Werbung, Marketing & Innovationsmanagement GmbH is owned by Kärntner Landes- und Hypothekenbank-Holding (until November 2008 by the State of Carinthia) (60%), the Chamber of Economy of Carinthia (30%) and the Chamber of Employees (10%). The purpose of the company is marketing activities for the tourism in Carinthia. It is financed by the State of Carinthia. It is controlled by the supervisory board which is nominated by the shareholders. (16) The Chamber of Economy of Carinthia is a body of public law (Körperschaft des öffentlichen Rechts) established by the Law on the Chamber of Economy (Wirtschaftskammergesetz). Its task is to represent the interest of its members. It is supervised by the Federal Minister for Economy and Labour. Its tasks and prerogatives are fixed by the law. (17) The Chamber of Employees is a body of public law established by the Law on the Chamber of Employees (Arbeiterkammergesetz). Its task is to represent the interest of its members. It is supervised by the Federal Minister for Labour and Social affairs. Its tasks and prerogatives are fixed by the law. 2.3.3. Kärntner Landes- und Hypothekenbank-Holding2 (18) Kärtner Landes- und Hypothekenbank-Holding (hereafter: “KLH”) is an ownerless legal personality established by an act of the State of Carinthia which has emerged from the Kärntner Landes- und Hypothekenbank. (19) The purpose of KLH is to acquire, hold, administer and divest assets, in particular shares in companies, and to found companies. KLH shall carry out a strategic holding policy for all its companies to guarantee synergy effects, clear competences and carry out a centralized controlling. KLH has to carry out its business in the interest of the State of Carinthia. The operative business is carried out by the companies themselves. (20) For the direct and indirect financing and support of projects which are in the interest of the State of Carinthia a special fund called “Zukunft Kärnten” has been established. The core fund consists out of EUR 500 million. The fund is administered separately from the rest of the assets. The granting of financing by the fund has to be in the frame of directives adopted by the supervisory board of KLH. (21) The board of KLH is appointed by the supervisory board. When State Government requests KLH to carry out financing of projects in the interest of the State the board has to submit this request for adoption of a decision insofar as the State of Carinthia provides the funding. (22) The supervisory board is appointed by the State Government. The supervisory board has to agree on investments above EUR 50,000. It delegates members to the supervisory 2 Website of KLH: www.klhd.at and Satzung der Kärntner Landes- und Hypothekenbank-Holding (Kärntner Landesholding) published in Landesgesetzblatt für Kärnten, 18. Jänner 2010 boards of the companies KLH owns. It has to decide on the financing of projects by the special fund “Zukunft Kärnten”. (23) The special fund has participated in the financing of the following projects3: “Low cost Project Ryanair” “Low-Cost Tuifly/Air Berlin” „Ankauf einer Fluglinie“ „Zuschüsse an die Kärnten Werbung – 2007“ „Flughafen Klagenfurt“ 2.3.4.