RYANAIR SUES EC - STATE AID TO OLYMPIC AIRLINES

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Ryanair News
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News Release
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22.11.07
RYANAIR SUES EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR ITS FAILURE TO INVESTIGATE ILLEGAL STATE AID TO OLYMPIC AIRLINES

Ryanair, Europe’s favourite low fares airline, today (Thursday, 22nd November 2007) lodged a case in the European Court of First Instance against the European Commission’s failure to act on Ryanair’s complaint about a further approximately €500 million worth of illegal State aid to Olympic Airlines, granted through bogus “arbitration” proceedings involving certain “services” allegedly provided by Olympic to the Greek Government. The Greek Government was found guilty of providing hundreds of millions to Olympic to bail it out in the past and this is the latest attempt to prop up this failed national carrier. Ryanair has called on the Commission to investigate this obvious abuse of EU competition rules already in 2006, but the Commission has so far failed to do so.

Announcing the launch of these proceedings Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s CEO, said:

“This is just another example of the Commission’s twin track approachto State aid in the air transport sector. On one hand they continue to waste time and taxpayers money investigating baseless complaints against standard free market deals at regional and secondary airports, for example Tampere and Alghero. These complaints were filed by inefficient high fare flag carrier airlines operating at expensive hub airports, who would never fly to smaller airports and are simply trying to prevent competition and consumer choice.

“On the other hand, the Commission repeatedly ignores blatant State aid to Air France, Lufthansa, Olympic, Alitalia and others. The Greek Government’s most recent tranche of State aid to Olympic involves approximately €500 million, mostly for “unpaid services” allegedly provided by Olympic to the Government. However, the Commission has refused to do anything about this since 2006, which left us with no alternative but to challenge the Commission’s inaction in the European courts.

“It appears that the Commission applies two approaches to enforcing the State aid rules: one of ignoring or signing off on continuing unlawful State aid for the inefficient high fare flag carrier airlines, and the other of pursuing baseless complaints by flag carriers against low fares airlines operating out of regional and secondary airports. This twin track approach must end and we are therefore calling on the Commission to start promoting competition, end unlawful State aid, and stop protecting flag carrier airlines”.