Alright, as I've been following the case, I'll make things clearer for everyone:
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Regarding the confiscation of 4 planes, the prosecutor wants to confiscate the value equivalent to 4 planes, not the 4 planes themselves as said by La
Tribune. The reason why the prosecutor demanded the value is simple: due to the leasing mechanism used by Ryanair, the plane doesn't belong to Ryanair Ltd but to a company located in a tax haven and owned by Ryanair Holding Plc. As there were too many ways to block a seizure legally, the prosecutor wanted the equivalent of 4 planes PLUS 225 000 which is the max you can demand for hidden work in France legally speaking.
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Is it legally possible ? As a matter of fact, it is since French justice has already seized a
Sky Europe plane before.
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Is it yet another French union trial? Not at all. Unions but also politicians have recently stood up against bad practices, hidden work, tax evasion from airlines - whether they are national or low-cost. The French transport secretary almost admitted in a press conference that he wanted Ryanair's head. This trial, even it's going to drag on and on, is symbolic for a lot of parties which have grown fed up with FR's competition or practices (not judging, just saying). People (not just union) seem to want an exemplary sentence because Ryanair flew off the handle at Marseille and was held responsible for Angouleme's failure and got out of it blue handed from some representatives' point of view (such is the case of Charente Senator from the majority who's still battling against the company).
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easyJet was nailed before but moved on... France is a hard country to make business in, true story. However easyJet which was nailed for the same reason, changed its practices and is now having better results than Air France in Nice... Boo ya
Proof is that, pretty much like in every foreign country you do business in, you have to understand how things go down or else you'll just fail. Ryanair tried to force things (like it usually does) and now is the backlash...