Press Release: Mergers: Commission clears proposed takeover of SN Brussels Airlines by Lufthansa, subject to conditions

The European Commission approved on 22 June, 2009, under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of SN Airholding (SNAH), the holding company of the Belgian commercial airline SN Brussels Airlines, by Deutsche Lufthansa AG of Germany. The decision was conditional upon the implementation of a set of remedies, offered by Lufthansa to alleviate the Commission's competition concerns. In January 2009, the Commission opened an in-depth inquiry to further investigate the potential impact of the proposed transaction on passenger transport on a number of routes between Belgium and Germany and Belgium and Switzerland. The in-depth investigation confirmed that the transaction, as originally notified, would have raised competition concerns on the routes Brussels-Frankfurt, Brussels-Munich, Brussels-Hamburg and Brussels-Zürich. To address these concerns, Lufthansa submitted a set of remedies, offering an efficient and timely slot allocation mechanism that would allow new entrants to operate flights on each of the four routes where the Commission had concerns. In the light of the commitments, the Commission concluded that the proposed transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.