ENAC STIFLES COMPETITION BY BANNING RYANAIR’S LOW FARES

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Ryanair News
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News Release
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20.04.06
ENAC STIFLES COMPETITION BY BANNING RYANAIR’S LOW FARES

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline, today (Thursday, 20th April 2006) spoke out against ENAC for banning the airline’s low fares flights on the Rome (Ciampino) - Alghero route after May 01st. Ryanair has complained to the European Commission against the abuse of the PSO rules in Italy whereby the operation of some commercially viable routes is being granted exclusively to selected Italian carriers in order to funnel more state aid to these airlines.

Ryanair has also applied to the Administrative Court in Rome to ensure that over 10,000 Italian consumers who are already booked to fly on this route after May 1st are not denied travel because of ENAC’s anti-competitive favouritism towards Italian carriers.

Speaking today, Ryanair’s Head of Regulatory Affairs & Company Secretary, Jim Callaghan, said:

“The Italian Government’s attempt to impose a Public Service Obligation on this route is ludicrous. Ryanair has already carried 100,000 passengers on the Rome-Alghero route in its first year of operation with fares of less than 40 euro and with no subsidies, which also means that the Italian taxpayer is not being gouged either. Air One is also offering services from Rome Fiumicino to Alghero. The imposition of a PSO is therefore clearly illegal under European law. We are confident that the European Commission and the Italian courts will put an end to this anti-competitive and illegal behaviour.

“It is about time ENAC stopped trying to protect Alitalia and other Italian carriers and put a stop to illegal state aid. Such aid promotes high fares for Italian consumers and inefficient services. We are calling on our passengers to log on to http://www.ryanair.com and send a protest letter to Ryanair which we will forward to the Ministry of Transport. We are urging passengers to speak out now to ensure that Ryanair continues to operate its low fare, No.1 customer service route.

“We are assuring passengers that we will continue to fight for low fares, competition and choice for Italian consumers on the Rome to Alghero route”.