Ryanair appeals EU Commission’s decision

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline, has confirmed that it has submitted its appeal to the European Court of First Instance (CFI) in Luxembourg against the EU Commission’s decision to prohibit its merger with Aer Lingus.

Ryanair had made an offer of €2.80 per share to acquire Aer Lingus following the former national airline’s floatation last October. Ryanair was required to seek approval for clearance of the deal from the European Commission. However, following an 8-month investigation, the Commission eventually decided to block the merger.

Speaking today in Dublin, Ryanair’s Head of Regulatory Affairs, Jim Callaghan, said:

“We have filed our appeal with the CFI today asking them to overturn the Commission’s unlawful and politically motivated decision to block Ryanair’s merger with Aer Lingus. This merger, which accounts for less than 5% of the EU air transport market, was clearly pro-competition and would have been the first merger in history to guarantee fare reductions, which would have saved European consumers more then €100m. p.a.

“The Commission made several manifest errors in its assessment of the merger and ignored evidence from Ryanair demonstrating the numerous benefits that the merger would bring to consumers and increased competition with the high fares Mega Carriers. At the same time, the Commission accepted, without question, misleading and factually inaccurate submissions from the Irish Government and Aer Lingus, both of whom were clearly trying to block the merger.

“Ryanair also offered unprecedented commitments to the Commission to address any possible competition concerns, including giving up more than half of Aer Lingus’ Dublin-Heathrow slots, as well as over 1,700 additional weekly slots – several times what has been offered in any previous airline merger. However, the Commission refused these commitments, preferring instead to block this pro-consumer, pro-competition merger for narrow political reasons.

“The Commission’s prohibition of the merger has denied European consumers of these benefits and further protects the growing Mega Carriers like BA/Iberia/oneworld; Air France/KLM/Skyteam; and Lufthansa/SAS/bmi/Star Alliance from a stronger, more competitive Ryanair/Aer Lingus group. It has also seen Aer Lingus shareholders lose over €150m as the share price has fallen to €2.50, considerably lower than Ryanair’s offer last October.

“We are confident that the CFI will overturn this decision in the interests of consumers and the competitiveness of the industry. As always with the European Commission, there seems to be one rule for the national Mega Carriers and a completely different one for Ryanair”.