11th Sep 2007 09:45
Aer Lingus Group PLC11 September 2007 Ryanair appeal will fail Statement on behalf of Aer Lingus 10 September 2007 In June of this year, following an exhaustive investigation, the EU Commissionconcluded that the proposed Ryanair takeover of Aer Lingus presented greatermonopoly problems than any other airline case ever examined by the Commission. The Commission's investigation, which took account of the interests of allrelevant parties, particularly those of consumers, confirmed the position of AerLingus that competition and, as a result the Irish travelling public, wouldsuffer if a merger of the two largest airlines operating out of Dublin airportwas permitted to take place. Consequently, Aer Lingus is in no doubt that the appeal announced today willfail, and Aer Lingus will assist the Commission in upholding the decision beforethe Court. ends Notes to editor: • Ryanair's assertion that the decision flies in the face of the Commission's previously expressed desire for consolidation in the European airline industry disregards the fact that the Commission has never favoured consolidation which leads to one airline dominating its home market in the way that Ryanair would dominate the Irish market were it to control Aer Lingus. • Ryanair's position also ignores the practical reality that Irish consumers do not have the option of rail and road travel out of this country when travelling to mainland Europe. • In contesting the Commission's position, Ryanair makes a false and misleading comparison between this case, which involved the proposed merger of two low cost carriers operating out of the same base, and the Commission's approval of the airline mergers such as the merger between Air France and KLM. For instance: • The number of passengers travelling annually on the routes where Ryanair and Aer Lingus overlap is 14 million, while in Air France/KLM the number was only 4 million. • A merged Ryanair/Aer Lingus would cover 80% of all passengers at Dublin Airport, while Air France/KLM had only 62% at Paris CDG and 60% at Amsterdam Schiphol. • Ryanair's argument that this merger only affects 5% of air transport in the EU is plainly misleading. The European Commission protects competition on a route-by-route basis and a combined Ryanair/Aer Lingus entity would have dominated every single route operated by both Aer Lingus and Ryanair. For further information contact: Irish Media International Media Investors and analysts Sarah Ryan Matthew Fletcher/ Mark Kenny/ Jonathan Neilan Drury Communications Victoria Palmer-Moore K Capital Source Powerscourt Tel: +353-1-260 5000 Tel: +353-1-631 5500 Mob: +353 87 676 7452 Tel: +44-20-7236 5615 Email [email protected] This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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