I came upon an interesting article in Belgian
La Libre, shedding some light on Ryanair's decision to come to Zaventem.
While Brussels (European Commission) bans any public aid for airlines, an other government in Brussels (Belgian Government) tries to assist financially indebted Belgian airlines, mostly Brussels Airlines, but also Jetairfly and Thomas Cook. The best way to achieve it? Well, the aid package of 19 million euro will not be given directly to these airlines, but will be granted to the Brussels National Airport "for security infrastructure", as a legal public aid authorized by the Commission. Thereafter, the Brussels Airport will redistribute this sum of money as an incentive, to companies that fly over 400,000 passengers per year from Zaventem, excluding transfers.
Probably that was the main motivation for Ryanair to shift some capacity there thus getting a lion's share or at least a significant part of this aid. Smart move? Probably not enough. The Belgian government has just precised its rules, adding some text (as I understand it). The rebate will be "based on the latest comprehensive figures available, namely those of 2012." "According to that, companies are being selected from 2012 for next three years".
I simply cannot imagine Ryanair swallowing that without uttering a word...