Ryanair is demanding that European authorities block Air France’s bid for Alitalia.
The Irish budget airline called on the European Commission to step in until both airlines have paid back a combined €2.7 billion in “illegal” state aid received from the French and Italian governments.
Ryanair filed two separate state aid complaints with the commission two years ago about €1 billion in aid given to Air France in the form of discounted domestic passenger charges and €1.7 billion to Alitalia in the form of debt write offs.
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 €2.7 billion in illegal state aid is repaid.”
by Phil Davies
