Existing bookings will be fully honored and any future bookings can be made directly at Hertz, Thrifty and Firefly websites.
LONDON – The Hertz Corporation has said that despite lengthy discussions regarding a contractual dispute it regrets that it had to end its car hire agreement with Ryanair. Hertz reassures customers that existing bookings will be fully honored and that future bookings can be made directly at the Hertz, Thrifty and Firefly websites.
Michel Taride, Group President of Hertz International, commented: “We have enjoyed many years of a successful relationship with Ryanair, but unfortunately we were not able to reach agreement with the airline over a significant contractual dispute in spite of considerable effort.
“The majority of Ryanair passengers who need car hire from the Hertz brands in July and August are already booked and confirmed. Any customer who wishes to book car rental and enjoy great service at competitive rates can make arrangements directly with us. Customers can also modify existing bookings on the Ryanair website.
“Hertz deeply values all of its partnerships, some which have been going for more than 20 years. We strongly believe in mutually beneficial partnerships and would never take lightly the decision to end a key relationship.
“We are confident in our legal position and intend to pursue this matter vigorously through the courts.”
Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said: “We regret Hertz’s decision to end our car hire agreement at such short notice today, at a time that will cause maximum inconvenience to our customers during the peak travel period. We have had a long and successful partnership with Hertz, and it’s a pity that this has ended in such an unfortunate and untimely manner.
We have instructed our lawyers to issue proceedings against Hertz for breach of contract. In the meantime we look forward to entering into discussions with other car hire suppliers who wish to offer their services to Ryanair’s largest European customer base (100m passengers p.a.) via Europe’s largest travel website Ryanair.com.
We apologise sincerely to our customers for the absence of any car hire services on the Ryanair website from 12:00hrs today, however this decision has regrettably been forced upon us by Hertz’s short notice this morning. We hope it will not cause too much inconvenience to our customers while we take a few months to identify and agree a suitable replacement provider who wishes to partner with Ryanair during the coming 5 year period of rapid traffic growth for Europe’s lowest fare airline.
Since we expect that any losses arising from this interruption to our car hire services will be recovered from our legal proceedings against Hertz, we do not expect this interruption to have a material impact on current earnings.”
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
