[Article] Ryanair picks up ball, goes home

Victor

So, Ryanair is upset it won't be getting subsidies, but complains about others. :rolleyes:

Ryanair may drop routes after French ruling
From:ireland.com
Thursday, 28th August, 2003

Ryanair may have to drop many international routes following defeat in the French courts this week, chief executive Mr Michael O'Leary is quoted as saying in today's Financial Times.

The carrier is to suspend flights between Stansted and Strasbourg from September 24th because of a dispute with Groupe Air France over payments Ryanair receives to fly to secondary European airports.

"If we continue to have rulings against us, growth will be confined to privately owned airports so it would exclude development of low-cost routes in France. Pulling out would be one of the options," Mr O'Leary said.

He added the airline was ready to stop using Charleroi airport in Belgium if a European Commission finding - due in the autumn - goes against him.

"Strasbourg is nothing more than a skirmish. It would not have happened if it was not against the background of alleged state aid at Charleroi. Charleroi is our Waterloo," he said.

Aside from Strasbourg, the airline flies to 18 regional French airports from London including Biarritz, Montpellier and Perpignan. France represents three million of the company's 24 million passengers, contributing about 12 per cent of turnover.

Victor

http://www.thepost.ie/web/DocumentView/did-983113550-pageUrl--2FThe-Newspaper-2FSundays-Paper.asp

EU set to move on Ryanair in fees case
21/09/03 00:00
By Eamon Quinn
European Commission experts probing whether Ryanair benefited from state aid at Charleroi, have taken a close interest in a Danish case where the national regulator moved to ban Ryanair from receiving preferential landing fees
The countdown to the completion of the investigation, described by chief executive Michael O'Leary as Ryanair's Waterloo, finishes within the next two weeks. A 40- to 50-page report will be forwarded ahead of a final recommendation for the Commission. "We have received numerous statements in this affair and there are no major delays," an official working on the report said. "In the next two weeks it will go up to legal and competition experts."

Including Charleroi, the Commission has received three complaints potentially affecting Ryanair in the last three years. It has received much documentation from airports across Europe. Commission sources said that it will not separately start investigations into two other official complaints involving subsidies paid to Ryanair by Strasbourg, and Pau in the Pyrenees. A nearby town, Tarbes, complained to the Commission after Ryanair favoured Pau following negotiations. The decision of a French court has already led to Ryanair pulling out of Strasbourg.

A final round of meetings at the Commission with Belgian's Wallonian regional government officials, defending the promotions it offers at Charleroi, and Ryanair's O'Leary were described as purely "courtesy" calls. Regional officials met with the Commission last week, while O'Leary last visited earlier this month, a few days before his wedding. "We have already got enough. We now have to prepare our legal position, "a Commission source said.

In Denmark, the case involving Aarhus airport has led to the Danish Civil Aviation Authority banning the airport from charging Ryanair lower landing fees than the SAS airline. "It's the main airport for Ryanair in Denmark," said Tina Larsen, spokeswoman for the Danish Aviation Authority. "We started the investigation after new legislation which prevents airports from discriminating and paying different prices for the same product. "We have to approve the landing charges programme for this autumn. "We are waiting for the airport to come back to us. We expect a reply next week," she said. Aarhus was charging SAS double the rate levied on Ryanair, she said. "We want them [Aarhus] to stop doing what is illegal. We have had no communication with Ryanair." Significantly, the Danish regulator will not seek to recover money paid to Ryanair. The authority was aware that Ryanair had had talks with other Danish airports, but that the airports had been mindful of the legislation.

Separately, Ryanair is to take an exceptional charge of €5 million in the year to March 31, 2004 after announcing that it was to speed up the retirement of its 21-strong fleet of Boeing 737-200 aircraft. As revealed in The Sunday Business Post two months ago, Ryanair was forced to ground one of the 737-200s after discovering corrosion on the aircraft. At least another four aircraft were affected similarly. The €5 million charge will occur as Ryanair leases five aircraft while it awaits delivery of 15 new Boeing 737-800s. The airline will retire at least nine of the 21 fleet.