Ryanair welcomes European Court ruling

Ryanair has welcomed the European Court of First Instance’s (CFI’s) dismissal of Aer Lingus’ request for an injunction against Ryanair, which was part of Aer Lingus’ effort to force Ryanair to sell its minority shareholding.

The European Commission had already confirmed that since Ryanair has neither de facto nor de jure control over Aer Lingus, there are no legal grounds for such a compulsory disposal.

Speaking on Wednesday, Ryanair’s Head of Regulatory Affairs, Jim Callaghan, said:

"We welcome the European Court’s rejection of Aer Lingus’ request for an injunction against Ryanair. The European Commission had already decided on this issue and found that Ryanair has no control over Aer Lingus and it therefore cannot force Ryanair to sell its minority stake.

"This is just another waste of legal costs by Aer Lingus and an attempt to deflect from the fact that, their fares and fuel surcharges continue to increase, whereas Ryanair had committed to reducing Aer Lingus’ fares by 10% and eliminating its unjustified fuel surcharges, saving consumers over €100m. p.a.

"Ryanair looks forward to overturning the Commission’s unlawful prohibition of Ryanair’s merger with Aer Lingus at a time when far larger airline mergers are being approved by the European Commission (such as Lufthansa/Swiss, Air France/KLM and Air France/ Alitalia). There was no justification for the Commission’s nakedly political decision to prohibit this merger between two Irish airlines which between them account for just 5% of EU air travel.

"It is about time that the European Commission began promoting pro-consumer consolidation, such as the Ryanair/Aer Lingus merger, which guaranteed lower fares, the removal of fuel surcharges and improved services for Irish consumers, instead of protecting high fare, fuel surcharging flag carrier mergers".