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Ryanair confirmed that it will appeal the EU General Court ruling which allows CAI, the new owners of Alitalia, to avoid repaying the 300m. euros of illegal state aid which the EU Commission ruled (in 2008) that Alitalia had received from the Italian govt.
This failure to require Alitalia or CAI to repay 300m euros of illegal state aid is yet another example of the Commission’s bias in favour of EU flag carriers where the EU Commission has ruled that they received illegal state aid but refuses to enforce the repayment of this state aid, while at the same time DG Comm has launched 16 investigations into Ryanair deals at regional airports, despite the fact that the EU Court (in the 2008 Charleroi case) dismissed the Commission’s allegations of state aid to Charleroi.
Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said “Today’s decision allows Alitalia and CAI to avoid repaying 300m euros of state aid, which the EU Commission has already (in 2008) ruled to be illegal. This highlights the Commission’s bias towards flag carrier airlines, who repeatedly receive illegal state aid but never have to repay it, while at the same time DG Comm wastes more time and money launching 16 separate investigations into Ryanair deals at smaller regional airports, despite the fact that the EU Court in 2008 dismissed the Commission’s findings of state aid in the Charleroi case.
As usual with the EU Commission there’s one set of rules, or rather no rules, for the flag carriers, and a different set of rules for Ryanair.”
Also, Ryanair, called for an end to the EU Commission’s discrimination against low fares airlines (and favouring state owned flag carriers) which was again highlighted by the EU Commission’s ban on booking flights on low fares airlines or reimbursing travel expenses to/from Brussels Charleroi Airport.
Ryanair accused the EU Commission of telling lies about this travel ban when its (unnamed) spokesperson last week denied any such policy existed. At a Brussels press conference today Ryanair released copies of e-mails received from the EU’s travel agency (Amex) which clearly stated “The European Commission does not allow us to book low cost flights, so we can only arrange the transfers from/to Brussels (Zaventem) Airport”. Ryanair also released a letter from the EU Commission (Director for Administration and Payment) which stated “It is true that the terms of this contract do prevent Amex from booking tickets with ‘low-cost’ airlines”.
Ryanair called on the EU Commission to explain why (when it is preaching austerity on EU states and citizens, and is incapable of balancing its own budget) its own travel agency is “prevented” from booking tickets with low cost airlines which would save EU taxpayers millions of euro and many wasted hours (because low cost airlines are more punctual that the flag carriers).
Ryanair believes this Commission prohibition against using low fares airlines as the latest example of its bias against low fare airlines in general, and Ryanair in particular.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
