Ryanair has said it will appeal today's European Commission's decision to the European Court of Justice. Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said he believed the appeal will be supported by many other low fare airlines, regional airports and consumer groups.
Ryanair described the decision as bad news for consumers, bad news for low fare airlines and bad news for regional airports. In a statement, the airline said the decision confirms that the European Commission intends to increase costs and air fares for consumers.
'The decision is an attack on all low fare airlines and publicly owned airports and will equally affect Easyjet, Lufthansa and Flybe,' the statement added.
'Charleroi airport was empty five years ago. If this ruling applied back then it would still be an empty airport today,' CEO Michael O'Leary said. 'Underused secondary and regional airports must discount to attract low fares customers. Both Brussels Charleroi and Ryanair are profitable at these discounted rates.'
O'Leary said the impact of the commission's fine - seen at a maximum of €4m - was immaterial and that the ruling would not destroy Ryanair's low-cost business model.
'The impact on Ryanair was always going to be immaterial, it was never about the fine,' O'Leary said.
He said he would wait to examine details of the commission's ruling before deciding whether to axe routes and flights from Charleroi. 'If we are asked to increase our air fares by 6-8%, as the commission has suggested, then certainly some routes and flights will be diverted to private airports,' he said.
Even though Belgium's Walloon region, which controls Charleroi, has said it is willing to renegotiate its contract with Ryanair, O'Leary doubted this would be possible. 'We're doing deals for 15 and 20 years at private airports. This will only tie the hands of Charleroi and other public airports'.
'They will not be able to compete with the terms we have already negotiated at private airports,' he added. 'Charleroi will be obliged to comply with this decision.'
