150 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM according to the quality and scope of those services23, for example, in low-cost terminals. Under this Directive, the airports are not allowed to conclude confidential agreements on rebates on airport charges for the sole benefit of one airline, as recently confirmed by the EU Court of justice in the Lufthansa v. Land of Berlin case24. Finally, the Council Directive 96/67/EC of 15 October 1996 on access to the ground-handling market at Community airports may also be relevant for airports with more than 2 million passengers per year, if they provide those services. Indeed, they have to separate the accounts of their ground-handling activities from those relating to their other activities in order to ensure fair and effective competition. Such a split of their accounts implies that the ground-handling services they provide must be viable and that their tariffs must cover the relevant costs25. 2. INCENTIVES GRANTED BY AIRPORTS AND PUBLIC AUTHORITIES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ROUTES As mentioned above, public interventions will be qualified as State aid and will have to comply with the relevant regulation if they fulfil the four criteria set up under Article 107.1 TFEU. If one of the criteria is not fulfilled, they fall outside the scope of State aid. The following chapter will present the commercial incentives granted to airlines that do not constitute State aid because they do not confer an abnormal economic advantage for the airline as the airport behaves in accordance with the private operator principle or because they are not selective. 2.1. Commercial incentives to airlines under the private operator principle According to Article 345 TFEU that founds the private operator principle, Member States may own and manage undertakings and purchase shares in public or private companies. Their investments in the form of capital injections, loans or public guarantees will not be qualified as State aid if they can demonstrate 23 Article 10 of the Directive on airport charges, idem. 24 CJEU, judgment of 21 November 2019, Deutsche Lufthansa v. Land of Berlin, C-379/19, not yet published. 25 O L 272, 25/10/1996, p. 36.
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