Irish Competition Authority Ryan come out tops

Ryanair, the World’s favourite airline, (23 July) welcomed the Irish Competition Authority’s decision to drop any further investigation into the baseless complaints made by Aer Arann against Ryanair’s low fares on the Cork – Dublin route.

Aer Arann’s complaint, (which was filed with the Competition Authority over 18 months ago), accused Ryanair of unfair competition because Ryanair was charging much lower fares than Aer Arann on the Cork – Dublin route and carrying 80% of the traffic compared to Aer Arann’s 20%. Ryanair demonstrated to the Competition Authority that its low fares were profitable and that Ryanair’s prices were competing with train, car and bus journeys (which dominate travel on the Dublin – Cork route) and not with a high fare airline like Aer Arann.

Ryanair welcomes the decision of the Competition Authority, which exposes Padraig O’Ceidigh false claims that Ryanair was trying to put Aer Arann out of business. Even Aer Arann’s Chief Executive, Paul Schultz, recently admitted that these claims were false, when he confirmed in a speech in Cork that Ryanair and Aer Arann don’t really compete with each other because both the airlines only operate on one of Aer Arann’s 40 or so routes.

“Perhaps Aer Arann and Padraig O’Ceidigh will now admit that they can’t compete with Ryanair’s prices, our punctuality, or our passenger numbers. Ryanair would have to substantially increase its prices to compete with Aer Arann, which is a loss making PSO subsidy junkie. The reason why Aer Arann is losing money is not because of the one route (Cork-Dublin) where it tries to compete with Ryanair, but because its costs and fares are too high on the 39 other routes it operates where it doesn’t compete with Ryanair at all”.

cheap cheap and cheap excels, Ryanair may not suit alot of people who moan but some will moan about anything, Ryanair provide pax with cheap tickets and thats what the majority want. These cheap tickets i am sure are a scare to alot of airlines.