Ryanair in Court Battles with Lufthansa
From today's Financial Times:
[quote]Ryanair protests again in battle with Lufthansa
By Kevin Done, Aerospace Correspondent
Published: January 9 2002 20:15 | Last Updated: January 9 2002 20:25
Ryanair, Europe's leading low-cost airline, on Wednesday raised the decibels in its increasingly acrimonious legal battle with Lufthansa.
It said it had lodged a second complaint with the European Commission about the German airline's alleged "dirty tricks" campaign against it.
Michael O'Leary, Ryanair chief executive, said Lufthansa had engaged in a series of "ridiculous" court actions in Germany in an attempt to stop the company from publishing advertisements comparing Lufthansa and Ryanair fares.
"Even more laughably," said Mr O'Leary, the German airline had "sought to prevent Ryanair from issuing press releases or making statements in the German market critical of Lufthansa."
The public relations and legal battle is coming to the boil, as Ryanair prepares to launch a network of routes from a new operating base in Germany at Hahn, a former US fighter base located about 60 miles west of Frankfurt. Mr O'Leary forecasts that Ryanair will almost quadruple passenger volumes through Hahn in the first 12 months of the base's operation to more than 1.5m, as the Irish airline launches the first low-fare competition against Lufthansa in the German carrier's domestic market.
It is a favourite Ryanair tactic in the belief that, in comparing air fares, there is no such thing as bad publicity.
Lufthansa has won two temporary injunctions against Ryanair's alleged misleading advertisements. It said: "The fact that the court gave these injunctions shows that it shares Lufthansa's point of view. There is nothing more to say."
Mr O'Leary said that Ryanair was appealing against each injunction
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