Aer Lingus has welcomed a decision by the UK Supreme Court rejecting Ryanair's appeal against an OFT investigation.
The decision will mean the UK Office of Fair Trading can investigate the airline's 29% minority shareholding in Aer Lingus.
Ryanair had sought leave to appeal against the recent judgement by the Court of Appeal that the OFT is allowed, under merger control legislation to investigate.
"The OFT can now proceed swiftly to complete its investigation into Ryanair's shareholding which is contrary to the interests of consumers and the majority of Aer Lingus' shareholders," Aer Lingus said in a statement.
Ryanair said it looked forward to the review by the competition regulator, saying that it it confident that the OFT will find as the EU Commission did in 2007 that Ryanair couldn't be forced to sell down its minority 29% stake as it had neither de facto or de jure control of Aer Lingus.
Ryanair mounted a take-over bid of Aer Lingus in 2006 but it was prohibited by the European Commission the following year.
The Commission ruled that Ryanair could not be forced to sell its stake as it didn't have control of the former state airline, in which the government has a 25% stake.
