The effect of the European state aid rules on German regional airports

Scientific Study from the year 2015 in the subject Business economics - Economic Policy, grade: 1.3, University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt am Main (Fachbereich Wirtschaft & Recht), language: English, abstract: State aid is an eligible instrument to support the local industrial and commercial development. While prohibited on the one hand, exemptions exist, which allow within tight constraints the support by the states. With the new guidelines on state aid, competition within the airport industry is less influenced by the governments and market disruption reduced. The regional airports, being supported by the state to a high extent, are challenged to reshape their business models in order to remain sustainable for the future. The pressure is high as the many regional airports within Germany are challenging themselves as well as larger and also smaller airports at the same time. Selected approaches with sustainable character are shown in this paper along with a brief overview on the situation of the regional airports within Germany along with the new guidelines.