The investigation of the state aid to the airline is under way during the coronavirus pandemic aimed at clarifying whether the aid was in accordance with European rules. He had originally approved the aid in 2020. However, the EU Court of Justice annulled the authorisation in 2023 following a complaint from Ryanair and Condor. Lufthansa appealed against this decision, which has not yet been tried. The Commission is now reviewing its decision and wants to take into account Lufthansa’s market power at Vienna and Düsseldorf airports, for example. However, the principle emphasises that the initiation of the investigation does not yet say anything about its outcome. Travel restrictions during the pandemic had led Lufthansa’s activities to substantial pause. Tens of thousands of jobs were at stake in the group, which employs about 138,000 people. That is why the German government supported Germany’s largest airline in spring 2020. Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium had promised a total of EUR 9 billion as aid to the Lufthansa group, but they were not fully exploited. The lion’s portion of the sum came from Germany, the home of Lufthansa. The aid has now been fully repaid Six billion euros, including a 20% share package and silent participations, were given by the German Federal Economic Stabilisation Fund (WSF), while the state bank KfW contributed with a one billion-euro loan. The European partners acceded to the aid agreement only at a later date. The rescue group had fully paid the aid by the end of 2022 and replaced it partly by its own debt. Lufthansa’s CEO, Carsten Sports (Carsten Spohr) explained that he would rather be charged to the market than to the taxpayer. The German state did not lose money to the final result, but actually made profits of around 760m euros from interest and stock sales.