Ryanair to take on ENAC over Rome-Alghero route

[MarkD]

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breaking/story.asp?j=58547024&p=585473zx&n=58547359&x=

Ryanair threatens to take on Italian aviation authority

Budget airline Ryanair will seek legal action if Italy’s civil aviation authority denies it permission to operate one of three new domestic routes due to start this month.

At a news conference in Rome, Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said the airline will launch legal action by the end of the week if civil aviation agency ENAC denies take-off and landing slots for a new domestic route that would connect Rome to Alghero on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia.

“We have written to ENAC, asking for the concession of the slots. Now we are pressing to have a response by the end of the week,” O’Leary said. He said he believed ENAC was trying to prevent competition on the route, usually operated by Italian carriers.

The connection is due to start April 28. The Dublin-based airline said it has already sold up to 10,000 online tickets to Alghero.

ENAC said Ryanair will be allowed to operate the route to Alghero – as long as it meets special ”conditions” that include lower fares for Sardinia residents and a certain number of seats available only for them.

[Idunno]

O'Leary is suing everybody and his grandmother at the moment.
Looking forward to seeing him lose his shirt.
What a langer.

[BEagle]

Perhaps a few dark-suited folk from the hills near Palermo will soon make Mick-the-gyp an offer he can't refuse.....

[Re-Heat]

AFX Europe Focus
12 April 2005
[What follows is the full text of the news story.]

(updating with ENAC's Riggio comments on its ruling) MILAN (AFX) - Ryanair Holdings PLC CEO Michael O'Leary said his airline will launch legal action against Italy's civil aviation regulator ENAC by the end of the week unless it provides take-off and landing slots for Ryanair's planned route from Rome t o Alghero in Sardinia. Speaking in Rome, O'Leary said Ryanair plans to launch the route on April 28, and cited comments by ENAC president Vito Riggio, in which Riggio favoured Alitalia SpA regaining a 70 pct Italian market share. "We have written to ENAC, asking the concession of the slots. Now we are pressing to have a response by the end of the week," O'Leary said. "There is no explanation for the behaviour of ENAC, which has no right to interfere in competition between Ryanair and Alitalia," he said. ENAC "is trying to prevent competition and the lowest tariffs on this route", he said. ENAC told Ryanair on March 25 it could not operate the Rome-Alghero route, one of three for which it asked for slots in January, he said. Ryanair already has 10,000 bookings on the route, he said, adding he will give the passengers the email address of ENAC and the transport ministry so they can ask about the blocked route. ENAC was not immediately available to comment. O'Leary said he expects to carry about 10 mln passengers on its Italian operations in 2005. Asked about a third hub, after Rome's Ciampino airport and Orio al Serio, outside Milan, O'Leary said Ryanair is negotiating with three airports on this, including Alghero. In subsequent comments, ENAC's Riggio said that his authority's decision is based on Italian court rulings that limit the number of operators on the Rome-Alghero route to no more than two. "The route is already served by two competing airlines, Meridiana and Air One. We have believed that (competition) ought to be limited," he said. "All the same, we are talking about an explanation that is of a legal nature. You can't change that context, nor make it a personal issue," he said. Riggio said he couldn't understand why Ryanair had sold 10,000 tickets without have the authorisation to operate the route.

The Italians cannot operate in that manner in a deregulated market; no argument.

[brabazon]

Even with deregulation/liberalisation member countries are allowed to provide subsidies to PSOs if they meet certain criteria - ie that they are lifeline services which could not be operated commercially.

In this case the main issue is: should the route be designated as a PSO at all? By the fact that Ryanair are offering to operate it without a subsidy then it would seem that the PSO status should be withdrawn and anyone should be able to serve the route.

However, there is an ongoing investigation by the EC.