The Antitrust wants to see clearly, and, as announced, is launching an investigation against Ryanair for “abuse of a dominant position”.
The airline, according to the Authority, is expanding the “own market power in offering other tourist services (such as hotels and car rental)”and acting in this way would produce “serious and irreparable damage” to travel agencies as well as to their competitors in the air and to the customers themselves. The latter, specifically, would be prevented from saving on the cost of tickets until “40/50%”. The lunge of theAntitrust It arrives at a particularly delicate moment, given that we are already in a phase in which the first holidaymakers are already starting to make reservations for the next summer holidays.
According to what was reported by The messenger based on the documents seen, first of all Ryanair would be hindering the work of the tour operators physical and online (OTA), preventing them from using the booking portal or forcing them to access a platform where the offers are much smaller than the airline’s usual offering. In this way, agencies do not have the possibility of offering their customers packages with discounts by also including Ryanair offers in flights combined with other airlines. This may amplify the risk that the Irish company will create a dominant position, monopolizing the sales of tourism services and concentrating them on its own channels.
After receiving the complaint, Ryanair now has 8 days to respond to the accusations, and its legal representatives could appear at a hearing at the Authority’s panel as early as next Thursday 18 April. In the event that the defensive line is not convincing, all obstacles to the OTAs will have to be eliminated.
In recent days the Irish airline had attacked “pirate online travel agencies”, accusing them of being responsible for scams and excessive ticket prices: one above all eDreams, which would place a series of hidden costs on the shoulders of travellers, resulting in increases of up to 216%. There would also be other portals charging “invented commissions”, such as Opodo, Gotogate and Mytrip, which have already returned the charges to the sender. The president of Fto-Confcommercio, Franco Gattinoni, also intervened in the dispute, asking the EU to establish legislation to guarantee protection for flights sold with holiday packages by travel agencies in the event that they are canceled by low cost companies.
In short, the conflict between the parties is open, and the next Antitrust decision could finally contribute to unraveling the problem.
