European Union Competition Law Developments in the Aviation Sector: January to June 2016

Abstract

The first half of 2016 continues to highlight the significant impact of competition law in the aviation sector. This article summarises the main competition law developments over the past six months and then provides the reader with greater detail of each of these developments. The European Commission (hereinafter ‘Commission’) has cleared a number of mergers, and taken several State aid decisions. It has also not appealed the Court of Justice’s decision annulling its air cargo decisions, which potentially paves the way for it to take a new decision addressing the deficiencies (after having provided the relevant parties the opportunity to respond to the Commission’s concerns). In addition, the National Competition Authorities in Greece, Hungary, Sweden and the UK have all been involved in mergers and/or behavioural cases in the aviation sector. The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (which has concurrent competition powers with the UK’s competition authority) has also published a working paper on significant UK and European Union cases having an impact on airport operation services, including in relation to access to facilities and charging for services.