All airlines are equal, but some are more equal than others

For 22 years, an MoU between KLM and the Dutch State shielded KLM from criminal prosecution for transporting passengers without proper travel documentation. Meanwhile, other airlines were held criminally liable numerous times. This inequality caused the Amsterdam Court of Appeal to declare prosecutions of other airlines inadmissible in both 2008 and 2021, as the Dutch State had demonstrated an insufficient effort to conclude an MoU with them as well. Recently disclosed documents shed more light on the full scope of the unequal treatment of other airlines, raising questions on the possibility of reviewing their previous convictions as well as whether the MoU with KLM could be characterized as a form of unlawful state aid.