Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary said: “16 years after Air France’s takeover of KLM, every Dutch citizen now has to pay 200 euros each to prop-up Air France-KLM, while each French citizen will only pay a subsidy 100 euros.
Ryanair called on the EU Commission to block the latest illegal State Aid of 3.4bn euros to Dutch flag carrier KLM, which equates to a subsidy of 200 euros on behalf of every man, woman and child of Holland. The Dutch Govt are great at preaching fiscal conservatism to other EU countries but when it comes to bailing out flag carrier airlines they write subsidy checks even faster than Mrs Merkel.
Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary said: “16 years after Air France’s takeover of KLM, every Dutch citizen now has to pay 200 euros each to prop-up Air France-KLM, while each French citizen will only pay a subsidy 100 euros. This is a poor deal for the “trading nation”, which likes to lecture other EU countries about fiscal rules but has no problem breaking these rules when it comes to subsidising KLM. This Dutch government subsidy is also bad news for competition and consumer interests as it will further delay the necessary reforms at the bloated Air France-KLM. For this €200 KLM subsidy, every Dutch man, woman and child could buy 5 flights with Ryanair, instead of paying for the failure and inefficiency at Air France-KLM.
We call on the European Commission to block this subsidy doping to KLM, which will further reduce competition and consumer choice in the Dutch and French markets”.
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.
