Today’s deregulation decision by the CAA will allow Stansted to increase charges in future and will result in yet more damage to UK consumers and competition, Raynair says.
Ryanair criticised the UK CAA’s false claim that Stansted Airport does not have substantial market power, and the consequent deregulation of Stansted. Against evidence and its own earlier findings, the CAA now inexplicably claims that airlines are able to exert buyer power on Stansted in circumstances where Stansted was allowed by the CAA to double its charges in 2007, which caused a 5 year 27% traffic collapse at Stansted while Heathrow and Gatwick were growing. Even Easyjet moved flights to Southend to avoid Stansted’s high charges.
Today’s deregulation decision by the CAA will allow Stansted to increase charges in future and will result in yet more damage to UK consumers and competition. This decision confirms yet again that the CAA’s regulatory regime is “inadequate”, as previously found by the Competition Commission in its 2009 decision to break up the BAA airport monopoly.
Ryanair’s Director of Legal & Regulatory Affairs, Juliusz Komorek said: “Ryanair regrets today’s unsupported claim by the CAA that Stansted does not have substantial market power and the CAA’s decision to deregulate Stansted. The CAA’s failure to recognise that Stansted has profitably maintained its prices above the competitive level since 2007, despite a 27% fall in traffic, confirms the Competition Commission’s finding that the CAA regulatory regime is ‘inadequate’.
Today’s decision is an example of the CAA’s regulatory failure which will again harm consumers as Stansted will be able to further increase airport charges whenever it wishes, without any reference to competitive price levels.
Effective regulation with aggressive price caps is the only way to ensure that consumers are protected and that Stansted can grow its traffic on a sustained basis. Ryanair condemns the CAA’s continuing failure to effectively regulate Stansted.”
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.
