RYANAIR CALLS ON EU TO STOP AIR FRANCE BID FOR ALITALIA

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Ryanair News
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News Release
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06.12.07
RYANAIR CALLS ON EU TO STOP AIR FRANCE BID FOR ALITALIA UNTIL €2.7BN ILLEGAL STATE AID IS REPAID

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline, today (6th Dec) called on the European Commission to block Air France’s bid for Alitalia until both airlines have paid back a combined €2.7bn in illegal state aid received from the French and Italian Governments.

Two years ago, Ryanair filed two separate State Aid complaints with the European Commission about €1bn illegal state aid given to Air France in the form of discounted domestic passenger charges and €1.7bn illegal state aid given to Alitalia in the form of debt write offs. Despite these flagrant breaches of state aid rules, the European Commission has failed to act on either case in the last two years.

Speaking today, Ryanair’s Head of Regulatory Affairs, Jim Callaghan said;

“The European Commission’s failure to address these serious state aid complaints shows that it has one set of rules for high fare flag carrier airlines and another for efficient low fare airlines like Ryanair. We call on the European Commission to block Air France’s bid for Alitalia until such time as these two state aid complaints have been addressed and the combined €2.7bn in illegal state aid is repaid”.