A few points that seem to have been missed in this thread:
- Air France has been consistently profitable since 1997 without ANY State subsidy
- The case was brought before the Administrative Tribunal by Brit Air (admittedly an AF subsidiary), NOT Air France
- Strasbourg/Entzheim airport is owned and operated by the local Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie (CCI), therefore it is funded with taxpayers' money
- Under European Union competition rules, no public-owned (or private) company (whether airline or else) may be subsidised with taxpayers' money in a way that distorts competition - in other words subsidies are allowed if they are provided to ALL operators (for PSO for instance)
If the Strasbourg-Stansted route is only making money thanks to a subsidy, that means it's not viable on its own...
Looks like open season on FR these days, with the Charleroi case pending, and smaller French charter airline Air Mediterranée (probably emboldened by the Strasbourg verdict) launching a similar case against Ryanair regarding its agreement with Pau airport. IMHO, the result will be the same.
Too bad for the passengers, but that's what competition rules are all about...