11th Jan 2007 12:38
Ryanair Holdings PLC11 January 2007 Ryanair Welcomes Decision By EU Ombudsman Forcing the Commission to Correct "Inaccurate and Misleading Notices" on Passenger Compensation Ryanair Also Calls on the Commission to Scrap this Failed Legislation Ryanair, Europe's largest low fares airline, today (Thursday, 11th January 2007)welcomed the EU Ombudsman's finding that information contained in the EUCommission's notices on Passenger Compensation (Regulation 261/2004) was"inaccurate and misleading". Ryanair and other airlines had called on theCommission several times to correct this information. The Ombudsman noted thatthis misleading information was likely to have "contributed to a considerablenumber of disputes between passengers and airlines that could have been avoidedhad the Commission provided accurate information". Ryanair today also publicly called on the Commission to scrap this nowthoroughly discredited piece of legislation. Commenting on the Ombudsman's decision, Ryanair's Head of Regulatory Affairs andCompany Secretary, Jim Callaghan, said: "It is ridiculous that it took a decision of the Ombudsman to force the Commission to correct this inaccurate and misleading information. This is typical of the Commission's handling of this legislation generally. Ryanair and all major airlines in Europe (including British Airways, Air France and Lufthansa) have consistently complained that this legislation is anti-competitive and anti-consumer as it forces airlines to provide huge amounts of compensation and assistance to passengers for delays and cancellations, even in cases where these are completely beyond the airlines' control. The cost of this compensation and assistance is often several times the amount of the original fare. Other competing forms of transportation have no such requirements. "It is a welcome development that the EU Ombudsman has now forced the Commission to change this inaccurate and misleading information but we believe that this nonsense legislation, which does nothing for consumers except raise the cost of air travel, should now be scrapped and we are today calling on the Commission to do just that". Ends. Thursday, 11th January 2007 For reference: Peter Sherrard - Ryanair Tel: +353-1-8121228 Pauline McAlester - Murray Consultants Tel: +353-1-4980300 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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