Member Article

Ryanair’s Aer Lingus bid blocked again

Ryanair say they will appeal the EU Commission’s third attempt to block the airline’s takeover of Aer Lingus.

The Commission said the acquisition would harm consumers by creating a monopoly on 46 routes where the two airlines currently compete with each other.

Commission Vice President in charge of competition policy Joaquín Almunia said: “The Commission’s decision protects more than 11 million Irish and European passengers who travel each year to and from Dublin, Cork, Knock and Shannon.

“For them, the acquisition of Aer Lingus by Ryanair would have most likely led to higher fares. During the procedure, Ryanair had many opportunities to offer remedies and to improve them. However, those proposals were simply inadequate to solve the very serious competition problems which this acquisition would have created on no less than 46 routes.”

Ryanair said they have made “unprecedented” remedies to their bid, including the confirmation of two upfront buyers for Aer Lingus’ short-haul business.

A statement reaffirmed the company’s belief that it was political decision to pander to vested interests of the Irish Government, a minority shareholder in Aer Lingus.

Ryanair’s Robin Kiely said: “At a time when airlines in Europe and further afield are merging to form bigger competition champions (witness American Airlines’ merger with US Airways last week and Emirates’ recent strategic joint-venture with Qantas) the EU Commission has yet again set back competition and choice in Europe while delaying much-needed consolidation.

“Ryanair regrets that the EU Commission has again failed to apply its own competition rules and precedents in a fair and dispassionate manner. We regret that this prohibition is manifestly motivated by narrow political interests rather than competition concerns and we believe that we have strong grounds for appealing and overturning this politically-inspired prohibition. Accordingly, Ryanair has instructed its legal advisers to prepare a comprehensive appeal against this manifestly unjust prohibition.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .