11.12.2010

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 327/71

(1)

In accordance with Article 88(3) of the EC Treaty, in a letter to the European Commission dated 24 September 2002, registered as received on 26 September 2002 under No TREN(2002) A/66844, the Greek Ministry of Transport set out the details of a scheme to compensate for losses in the airline industry following the attacks of 11 September 2001.

(2)

Having been implemented before its formal approval by the Commission, this measure was registered as non-notified aid under No NN 119/2002. This was communicated by letter with acknowledgment of receipt sent by the Commission on 28 October 2002 (TREN(2002) D/17401).

(3)

By letter of 27 May 2003, the Commission notified Greece of its decision to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 88(2) of the Treaty in respect of this aid.

(4)

The Commission‘檚 decision to initiate the procedure was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (2). The Commission called on interested parties to submit their comments concerning the aid in question.

(5)

The Commission received no comments from interested parties.

(6)

The Commission received the initial comments from Greece regarding the initiation of the procedure by letter of 3 December 2003, registered as received on 10 December 2003 under No SG(2003) A/12211.

(7)

Greece stated that it would be sending further information. As this failed to materialise, by letter TREN(2004) D/4128 of 15 March 2004 the Commission offered the Greek authorities one last opportunity to provide the additional information within 15 days and notified them that, if they failed to so, the Commission would take its decision on the basis of the information it already had. The Greek authorities did not reply to that letter.

(8)

As a result of the terrorist attacks in the United States on 11 September 2001, some areas of airspace were closed for several days. This was notably the case with the airspace of the United States, which was completely closed from 11 to 14 September 2001 and was reopened only gradually starting on 15 September 2001. Other countries had to take similar measures for all or part of their territory.

(9)

For this reason, during that initial period airlines had to cancel flights using the airspace concerned. They also suffered losses owing to the disruption of other traffic and the fact that some passengers were unable to complete their journeys.

(10)

Given the magnitude and suddenness of the events and the costs they caused for airlines, the Member States had to consider exceptional compensation measures.

(11)

The scheme that is the subject of this Decision provided for the payment of compensation for losses sustained by airlines from 11 to 15 September 2001; in fact, the notified scheme also provided for the payment of compensation for costs incurred after that period.

(12)

In support of their scheme, the Greek authorities argued that the closure of airspace in the United States had direct consequences for the airlines even after 14 September 2001, since on 16 September 2001 an Olympic Airways flight to New York was cancelled preventively due to a lack of information regarding the possibility to land there. There was also compensation for costs incurred on 15 September 2001.

(13)

The eligible air carriers were the air carriers holding operating licences issued by the Greek authorities pursuant to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2407/92 of 23 July 1992 on licensing of air carriers (3).

(14)

The Greek authorities indicated that they consulted all eligible air carriers; only three companies submitted compensation claims after all Greek air carriers were invited to do so by letters of 24 October and 5 December 2001 sent out by the local authorities. One of them, Axon Airlines, ceased operating on 3 December 2001, before the compensation was paid out in July 2002; Greece decided not to pay compensation to this air carrier because the objective was to enable air carriers to continue their activities and prevent the costs suffered following the attacks from affecting them excessively. The other air carriers that actually received payments were Olympic Airways, hereinafter referred to as ‘極A‘� and Aegean Cronus, hereinafter referred to as ‘楢C‘�

(15)

In their notification, the Greek authorities indicated that payments to these companies amounted to EUR 4 827 586 for OA and EUR 140 572 for AC, making up the total of EUR 4 968 158 notified on 24 September 2002. These amounts were financed, in accordance with the applicable Greek legislation, from the TASS and TAEA funds for airport development and modernisation.

(16)

The Greek authorities indicated that the companies received copies of the Commission‘檚 letter of 14 November 2001, which constituted the basis for compensation claims.

(17)

Greece defined the losses eligible for compensation as losses sustained by air carriers and directly related to the events; they included losses of passenger revenue, losses of revenue from carriage of freight, losses due to the destruction of consignments of products which did not reach their destinations, costs occasioned by route diversion and time spent by aircraft at other airports owing to the closure of airspace, and costs of accommodation for passengers or crews.

(18)

In the notification, the losses eligible for compensation were not limited to routes directly affected by the decision taken by some countries following the events to partially close the airspace; they in fact related to the entire networks of the air carriers and the compensation was payable for the total losses incurred across the entire network.

(19)

Greece provided the Commission with information of varying degrees of detail concerning each beneficiary.

(20)

In the notification, Greece informed the Commission that the total compensation was less than 4/365 of the undertaking‘檚 annual turnover. The compensation related not only to flights to the United States, Canada and Israel, but to the company‘檚 entire network.

(21)

The compensated costs of GRD 1 645 000 000 (EUR 4 827 586) were broken down as follows: