HOW TO SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW ROUTES 151 that they provided the funds in circumstances that would be acceptable to a private investor operating under normal market economy conditions. Therefore, according to this principle, public entities, which own and/or manage an airport, should be allowed to grant commercial incentives to an airline if a private investor would act in the same way in similar or comparable conditions under the Market Economy Operator Principle (“MEOP”). When the Commission first assessed commercial contracts between airports and low-cost airlines, it struggled to apply such a principle. Indeed, the Ryanair/ Charleroi airport case, initiated in 2001 and closed in 2014, revealed that the MEOP was very difficult to apply in the airport sector, especially in regional airports due to their public interest mission, in order to ensure accessibility and to contribute to the economic development of touristic regions. As a reminder, the Commission considered, in its decision of 12 February 2004, that Brussels South Charleroi Airport did not act as a private investor, even though the business plan demonstrated a profitable return of the commercial incentives, and that many years later the facts proved the success of their agreement. The Commission also considered that, by granting a rebate on airport charges, the Walloon Region could not be compared to a private investor as it was acting as a public regulator, despite being the majority shareholder of Brussels South Charleroi Airport and owning the airport infrastructures. This decision was annulled by the General Court of the EU in its judgment of 17 December 2008, which considered that the Commission had made an error in law by refusing to take into account the economic link between the Walloon Region and Brussels South Charleroi Airport and to analyse both contracts together for the purpose of the application of the private investor principle. Moreover, the General Court considered that the action of the Walloon Region, in this case, qualified as economic activities as the fixing of the number of landing charges and the accompanying indemnity are activities directly connected with the management of airport infrastructure, which is an economic activity. On 1 October 2014, the European Commission finally adopted a new decision concluding the absence of aid in favour of Ryanair in all the contracts concluded with the Walloon Region and Brussels South Charleroi Airport based on its new methodology, formalised in its 2014 Aviation Guidelines. Under the Aviation Guidelines adopted in 2014, if it can be demonstrated by an ex-ante analysis that commercial arrangements with airlines are expected to incrementally contribute to the profitability of the airport, they do not constitute State aid.
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