Dentons represented Spanish airline Volotea in achieving a landmark victory before the European Court of Justice in its long-lasting case regarding alleged illegal state aid in relation to flights to the Italian island Sardinia.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (C-331/20 P) annulled both the ruling of the first instance court of May 20, 2020 (T-670/17) as well as the decision of the European Commission of July 29, 2016, which ordered recovery of alleged state aid from Volotea. The judgment followed General Tamara Ćapeta’s opinion of April 7, 2022, that the first-instance judgment against Volotea and other plaintiffs contained errors of law.

The CJEU also annulled the European Commission's decision, insofar as it concerned Volotea and easyJet, on the grounds that the Commission had committed errors of law by failing to apply the principle of the private operator in a market economy and by finding the existence of an advantage to the two airlines on the basis of erroneous legal and factual considerations.

Partners Michele Carpagnano (Rome) and Matthias Nordmann (Munich) led the Dentons legal team, with support from associates Giulia Giordano (Rome) and Caglagül Koz (Berlin).

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