EU Competition Law Developments in the Aviation Sector from 29 July 2012 to 31 December 2012

The second part of 2012 has seen a moderate increase in competition law activity in the aviation sector, coupled with the European Commission's (the 'Commission') announcing a package of proposals to increase the competitiveness of the European Union's (EU) aviation industry. A summary of the Commission's decision in the freight forwarding cartel investigation has finally been published, however the non-confidential version is still awaited. Since July, there have been a number of mergers announced, including Aegean/Olympic and IAG/Vueling. This article first summarizes the Commission's package of proposals, reviews the ongoing and closed investigations, considers the mergers that have been notified to the Commission or other regulators (as opposed to potential mergers that have been announced in the media), reviews relevant judgments of the European Courts (the General Court and the Court of Justice),(1) as well as those judgments that are still pending and concludes with a review of some relevant State Aid decisions.