The commission has been going after just about all European countries on airline help and airport assistance.
In Germany, there’s at least four or five airports which only marginally exist with state funding key to their survival. They’ve all been given notice that the ‘help’ is ending and they must make it on their own. The Kassel Int’l Airport basically runs with around ten flights a week...which isn’t enough to pay for the fire department, airport staff and security. Same deal for Saarbrucken.
In the case of Cyprus Air (which I’ve ridden in the past)...they were surviving until the last decade when the low-price discount airlines suddenly appeared.