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Legal battle looms over Lufthansa deal
Easyjet is considering a legal challenge over Lufthansa’s approved acquisition of fellow German carrier Eurowings.
The European Commission has given the all-clear to the deal but without a thorough examination, according to Easyjet.
The no frills carrier, which claims the acquisition could create a monopoly in Germany, has written to Lufthansa chief executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber demanding guarantees that the airline will not raise prices and will not use Eurowings to dump seats “to the detriment of competition.”
“All options are now on the table, including a complaint to the European Court of Justice,” said Easyjet German country manager John Kohlsaat.
In the letter, Easyjet also asks how the deal can be in the interest of the consumer if an already dominant player further tightens its grip on the market.
“Unfortunately, history teaches us to be sceptical of monopolies pretending to act in the public interest,” said Kohlsaat. “This is the second time in two years that the EC has paid scant attention to the impact on the flying public. The Commission is supposed to be the guardian of the EU’s free market but when it comes to airlines it seems to prefer the creation of national monopolies.”
Kohlsaat added that Lufthansa’s concessions – which he claimed were a “handful of slots on a few routes” – were “a joke.”
“When someone controls 57% of the market, [as Lufthansa and its partners do], you have to look at the market as a whole,” he said.
Report by Steve Jones
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