Ryanair has placed £2.8m in an escrow account pending the company's appeal against a decision by the European Commission.
The Dublin-based carrier said it would place the money in the account until the European courts heard its appeal against the commission's decision ruling that payments paid by Belgium to encourage it to keep a hub at the country's Charleroi airport were illegal. The commission said that if its appeal was successful, the funds would be returned to Ryanair, or if unsuccessful, repaid to the Walloon authorities.
Ryanair is challenging the decision and said yesterday that the 40 million euros (£28m) costs of establishing and running its base at Charleroi vastly exceeded any discounts received from the Walloon region.
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