Lufthansa suffered defeat before the European Court of Justice in the matter of state aid granted to Frankfurt-Hahn Airport. The judges finally dismissed a lawsuit against subsidies from the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

The matter has been dragging on for a number of years because, for example, it was about a credit line that Rhineland-Palatinate had granted the regional airport. Lufthansa saw this as a distortion of competition and went to court. They had already suffered a setback before the General Court of the European Union, but made use of the appeal to the ECJ.

The Supreme Court agreed decision of the lower court and stated that Lufthansa has no right of action in this matter, since Hahn Airport has never been flown to regularly. The legal dispute has now ended in the final instance and the European Court of Justice has determined that the crane company must reimburse the EU Commission and the state of Rhineland-Palatinate for the costs of the proceedings.

In the past, Lufthansa has repeatedly taken legal action against subsidies granted by the public sector at regional airports. Among other things, it is believed that this could indirectly subsidize the offers of the competitor Ryanair. However, the ECJ did not go into this question in more detail, since the court was of the opinion that there was insufficient evidence that there had been a significant reduction in market share and, on top of that, the ECJ denied the right to sue in this matter.