BAA sue Ryanair over Stansted fees

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Source: UK News

BAA sue Ryanair over Stansted fees

04.08.08

Stansted Airport owner BAA has begun legal action against Ryanair to force it to pay it a recent 15 percent increase in airport charges introduced on April 1.

Ryanair wrote to the BAA in May to inform it that it would be withholding the increase in airport charges at Stansted. Rival easyJet is taking a similar stance for charges at Gatwick.

In a document lodged with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) late last week, Ryanair said that the increase constituted ‘excessive pricing’ and was an abuse of BAA's ‘dominant position in the London market and contrary to the public interest’.

The latest legal action is part of a long-running dispute between Ryanair and BAA in relation to airport charges at Stansted. BAA sued the budget airline after it increased charges four years ago and Ryanair refused to pay them. For its part, Ryanair plans to ground 15 aircraft there this winter in protest to the increased fees.

Ryanair estimates that the increase in airport charges would cost its passengers £23 million in a full year. It is reported that BAA informed Ryanair in July that it was taking action in the High Court to secure the money.

Jim Callaghan, Ryanair's director of legal and regulatory affairs, confirmed that the airline was being sued. ‘It's trying to force us to pay, but we're pretty confident that this constitutes excessive pricing and is an abuse of their dominance,’ he told The Irish Times.