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Ryanair receives huge subsidies from European airports – and has won its latest battle to retain them – but the EU continues to investigate the practice

TO THE FURY of Lufthansa, and the delight of Ryanair, the citizens of the north German city of Lübeck last weekend voted almost two to one in favour of continuing taxpayer subsidies to keep their airport (called Hamburg by Ryanair), open for at least another two years. The German airline had exhorted cash-strapped Lübeckians to put creches, classrooms and hospital beds before wealthy Irish carriers. As far as Lufthansa is concerned, the airport is just one of 200 regional EU airfields which Ryanair relies upon to funnel hundreds of millions of what Lufthansa calls “questionable subsidies” direct to its balance sheet.