The European Commission has approved €4.5 million in German public funding for Paderborn airport in North Rhine-Westphalia under EU State aid rules.
Paderborn is a regional airport that handled about 820,000 passengers in 2024 and is operated by the publicly owned Paderborn/Lippstadt Airport GmbH, the Commission informed on Wednesday.
The funding is intended to support investments so the airport can continue operating as a commercial airport and to improve its transport infrastructure and services.
The Commission said it assessed the measure under EU State aid rules, including its Aviation Guidelines, which set out when public support for airports can be allowed.
How the Commission assessed the funding
Rescue services and firefighting were treated as non-economic activities, and the part of the funding linked to those services did not count as state aid, the Commission said.
For the rest of the investments, the Commission said the measure was limited to covering infrastructure investment costs between 2025 and 2030 and did not unduly distort competition in the EU single market.
A non-confidential version of the decision will be published in the Commission’s State aid register under case number SA.109986 once confidentiality issues have been resolved, it added.
