RYANAIR WELCOMES OFT PROBE INTO BAA MONOPOLY AIRPORTS

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Ryanair News
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News Release
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30.06.06
RYANAIR WELCOMES OFT PROBE INTO BAA MONOPOLY AIRPORTS

Ryanair, Britain’s favourite airline, today (Friday, 30th June 2006) welcomed the UK Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) statement that it has now launched a probe into the UK airports market with a view to establishing whether the current structure works well for consumers. Ryanair and other airlines have long called for the break up of this inefficient gold-plating, over-charging monopoly, which is clearly not acting in the interest of passengers or customer airlines.

Ryanair also welcomed the statement of OFT Chairman, John Fingleton who said that, “greater competition between airlines over the past decade has led to wider choice for air travellers and lower fares” and that it is now time to “explore the potential for greater competition within the airport industry.”

Speaking this morning following the OFT’s statement, Jim Callaghan, Ryanair’s Head of Regulatory Affairs said:

“We warmly welcome the OFT’s investigation of the BAA airport monopoly. Ryanair has long called for the break up of the BAA monopoly, which has dominated the London market since its privatisation wasting money and gouging passengers along the way. Recent developments at Stansted yet again prove this, where the BAA is insisting on spending £4 billion on gold plated facilities while at the same time increasing airport charges and fares to UK consumers. The fact that the BAA monopoly has spent over £25 million on “consultants fees” to design this Taj Mahal without producing even one page of a report to justify it clearly demonstrates that something is seriously wrong. BAA’s offer of a sweetener of £750m to its shareholders to reject Ferrovial’s bid, also clearly proves that this monopoly has been overcharging passengers and feathering its own nest.

“As the OFT Chairman noted, competition in air transport has brought huge benefits for consumers - monopolies like BAA just rip them off. We hope that the OFT will call for the break-up of this abusive monopoly in the interests of competition, lower airport charges and consumer choice”.