23rd Dec 2025 11:20
(Alliance News) - Ryanair Holdings PLC on Tuesday said it will appeal the "legally flawed" ruling and fine imposed on the company by the Italian Competition Authority, AGCM.
On Tuesday, ACGM said it fined the Dublin-based budget airline EUR255.8 million for "abuse of a dominant position", which it said began in April 2023 and continued through to at least April this year.
The regulator stated that Ryanair put in place an elaborate strategy affecting the ability of both online and traditional travel agencies to purchase Ryanair flights on ryanair.com.
"In particular, the company's strategy blocked, hindered or made such purchases more difficult and/or economically or technically burdensome when combined with flights operated by other carriers and/or other tourism and insurance services," AGCM charged.
Ryanair on Tuesday hit back at the ruling, describing it as both "bizarre/unsound" and "legally flawed".
Ryanair said it has instructed its lawyers to appeal both the ruling and the fine, which it claimed has been "unjustly levied". The company said the decision seeks to ignore a precedent ruling by a Milan court in January 2024 that declared Ryanair's direct distribution model "undoubtedly benefits consumers" and leads to "competitive fares".
In order to reach the ruling, Ryanair said, ACGM had to ignore Ryanair's non-dominant position of just over 30% share of the Italian market "by gerrymandering to exclude both long haul air travel, and short haul air access to a number of other countries, so that it could invent this claim that Ryanair holds a dominant position in the Italian air travel market."
Shares in the company were up 0.5% at EUR29.33 on Tuesday afternoon in Frankfurt.
Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said: "If today's legally unsound AGCM Ruling and fine is not appealed, then the AGCM proposes to set itself above the Milan courts in making competition decisions. Ryanair has fought for many years for transparent pricing, and our approved [online travel agency] agreements (which have been agreed by almost every large OTA, with the notable exception of one Spanish OTA, who continues to overcharge its customers for flights and ancillary services) are manifestly and clearly pro-consumer."
O'Leary continued: "This AGCM puling is an affront to the precedent Milan court ruling, and also an affront to consumer protection and competition law. Ryanair has grown rapidly in Italy - and in many other markets across Europe - by always offering the lowest air fares in every single market in which we operate. This legally baseless AGCM ruling, and its absurd EUR256 million fine, undermines consumer protection and competition law, and it will be overturned on appeal."
By Christopher Ward, Alliance News reporter
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