A ruling made by the UK's Competition Appeals Tribunal this morning has been welcomed by Aer Lingus, but criticised by Ryanair, which said it would immediately appeal the ruling to the Court of Appeal.
The CAT ruled that the UK's Office of Fair Trading was entitled to look into Ryanair's acquisition of a near 30% stake in Aer Lingus under UK competition legislation.
The OFT had announced in October that it was investigating whether Ryanair's holding in its rival gave it the power to influence Aer Lingus's commercial policy and hampered competition.
Ryanair, which made its first failed bid to take over Aer Lingus in 2006, had said the probe was 'out of time' and the OFT no longer had jurisdiction over the matter.
The OFT had said that it opened its investigation after the conclusion of appeals of European Commission decisions on the issue.
Ryanair claimed that today's decision throws the UK's legislation on mergers 'into disarray'.
But Aer Lingus CEO Christoph Mueller called on the OFT to restart its probe as soon as possible.
'The European Commission blocked the Ryanair takeover of Aer Lingus more than four years ago, therefore it is incomprehensible that they have been allowed to remain on our share register,' he said.
