The European Commission launched an investigation on Monday to determine whether German government state aid for Lufthansa during the COVID-19 pandemic breached EU rules.

The investigation comes after a decision from the EU General Court in May 2023 to annul the state aid awarded to the German airline.

The top competition regulator in the European Union is now assessing whether Lufthansa was eligible for the German state subsidies and the condition of market competition at airports in Germany and Austria.

The German government granted state aid to Lufthansa worth billions of euros in June 2020, when usually strict subsidy rules were loosened to help support governments impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.