The Italian competition authority (AGCM) has imposed a €255.7 million fine on Ryanair, on the grounds of what the governmental agency has described as abusive practices designed to hinder the capability of travel agents to sell the low-cost carrier’s services.
This decision comes in response to a case brought forward by Barcelona-based online travel agency (OTA) eDreams, together with two organizations representing European travel agents and distributors.
According to the Italian authorities, Ryanair had been using its dominant position, which it quantified as 38-40% of flights originating to or from Italy, to either block or else make it highly complex for online travel agents to access Ryanair’s offerings and resell them together with those offered by other travel operators.
The AGCM also stated that the Irish low-cost airline had coerced a number of travel agents into making unfair distribution agreements which have severely restricted the capability of the latter to bundle Ryanair flights with other travel services.
The practices investigated by the Italian authorities cover the period between April 2023 and April 2024.
Ryanair has slammed the ruling, which it described as “legally flawed”, and announced an intention to appeal it immediately.
The Irish carrier also accused the competition authority of not taking into account a previous ruling, issued in January 2024 by a Milan court, that upheld the airline’s practices and labelled them as beneficial to consumers.
Additionally, the real market shared held by Ryanair, the airline argued, is smaller than that quoted in the ruling, which deliberately excluded long haul travel and other modes of transportation with which the carrier competes. Ryanair also defended the distribution agreements it has with assorted online travel agents under the ‘Travel Agent Direct’ scheme. Third party distributors are in fact able to resell Ryanair tickets as long as they don’t apply a markup, the airline noted in its defense.