26th Mar 2008 11:00
Ryanair Holdings PLC26 March 2008 RYANAIR CELEBRATES 12 MILLION PASSENGERS AT BRUSSELS CHARLEROI Ryanair, Europe's largest low fares airline today (Wednesday, 26th March 2008)celebrated carrying 12m passengers to / from Brussels Charleroi since launchingits first route there in 1997. Ryanair has since grown to 26 routes serving 2.5mpassengers p.a. Ryanair's low cost partnership with Charleroi has saved Belgian consumers /visitors €1.2bn compared to the high fares charged by airlines at Zaventemairport and has transformed Charleroi Airport from a loss making burden on theWalloon region into a profitable wealth generator. Ryanair's appeal of the European Commission's unlawful Charleroi State Aidruling was heard two weeks ago in Luxembourg. To make its unlawful ruling, theCommission invented unique and discriminatory rules and ignored its own MarketEconomy Investor Principal (MEIP) which allows public and privately ownedcompanies to compete on a level playing field. Ryanair looks forward to adecision which vindicates the Charleroi agreement and exposes the EuropeanCommission's bias. The European Commission has repeatedly ignored Ryanair's complaints aboutbillions of euro in state aid given to high fare flag carriers whileinvestigating spurious complaints from competitors, about free market deals attiny regional airports which are perfectly lawful under the Commission's ownMEIP rules. The latest of these baseless complaints (Bratislava airport) wasannounced the day before the Charleroi Appeal hearing in a pathetic attempt bythe politically corrupt European Commission to put pressure on the independentEuropean Court of First Instance. Against Ryanair: Submitted Investigation Berlin Aug ' 03 Jul '07 Alghero Dec '03 Aug '07 Aarhus Jan '05 Jul '07 Tampere Feb '05 Jul '07 Lubeck Feb '06 Jul '07 Pau Nov '06 Nov '07 Bratislava Jan '07 Mar '08 By Ryanair: Lufthansa (Munich Airport) Nov '05 No Action Alitalia (Bailouts) Dec '05 No Action Air France (Disc. Charges) May '06 No Action Olympic (Bailouts) Dec '06 No Action KLM (Ecotax) Feb '08 No Action The Commission also demonstrated its political bias against Ryanair byprohibiting the Aer Lingus merger while approving far larger airline mergerssuch as Lufthansa/Swiss, Air France/ KLM and shortly Air France/Alitalia.Ryanair's offer for Aer Lingus guaranteed to reduce Aer Lingus' fares andeliminate fuel surcharges, saving Aer Lingus passengers over €100m p.a. Sincethis unlawful EU prohibition (the first EU prohibition of any airline merger)Aer Lingus has increased fares and fuel surcharges. Ryanair looks forward tooverturning this unjust and corrupt merger prohibition on appeal. Welcoming its 12 millionth passenger in Brussels, Ryanair's Michael O'Learysaid: "Ryanair's agreement with Charleroi airport has been great news for Belgian tourism, Belgian business and above all the 12 million consumers who have saved over €1.2 billion thanks to Ryanair's low fares. We look forward to overturning the European Commission's unlawful state aid finding in Charleroi and to ending its discrimination against Ryanair's low cost deals at regional airports across Europe. "The European Commission's attempts to block competition and choice whilst failing to take action against the billions of euro in unlawful state aid given to flag carrier airlines must end. Ryanair again calls on the Commission to stop putting rule breaking Governments before consumers". Ends. Wednesday, 26th March 2008 For further information: Peter Sherrard Hans Karperien Ryanair Worldcom Tel. +353-1-8121228 Tel. +32 2 2806061 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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