Ryanair says it will appeal a French court ruling that financial aid granted to it by a chamber of commerce to help establish a service between Strasbourg and London was illegal, claiming the decision was "beyond belief".

The Bas-Rhin Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which manages the airport at Strasbourg, eastern France, promised last summer to give the airline €1.4 million to set up two daily round-trip flights between Stansted and the Alsace capital.

But there was also some good news for Ryanair yesterday. Chief executive Mr Michael O'Leary was named 23rd most powerful business leader outside the US by influential American magazine Fortune. The list was topped by BP chief executive Mr John Browne.

Mr O'Leary's reaction was characteristically irreverent. "Given that we have been campaigning for a second terminal at Dublin Airport for five years, [I am] hardly the 23rd most influential business leader in Ireland, never mind the world," he said.

The court challenge was brought by Brit Air, a subsidiary of French national carrier Air France, which cancelled its London-Strasbourg link after Ryanair began flying from the city. It insisted aid distorted competition.

The judgment contradicts the conclusions of a French government commissioner who in June said the money was to promote Strasbourg and the surrounding region. "We are extremely disappointed," said Ryanair's head of regulatory affairs, Mr Jim Callaghan.

"We will be mounting an immediate appeal to this incredulous decision," he said.

This decision comes in the same week as a German court ruled that Ryanair could not bill the Niederrhein airport in western Germany as "Niederrhein (Dusseldorf)", as the city of Dusseldorf is about 80 km away from the hub.