Ryanair hat angeblich Einigung mit EU-Kommission erzielt

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Die gewöhnlich gut informierte Sunday Times will wissen, dass Ryanair mit der EU-Kommission eine Einigung über die Beihilfen in Charleroi erzielt hat. Demnach dürfen Beihilfen grundsätzlich maximal über einen Zeitraum von fünf bis zehn Jahren gezahlt werden, weil nach Ablauf dieser Frist beim besten Willen nicht mehr von einer Unterstützung zum Aufbau neuer Verbindungen gesprochen werden könne. Ryanair schließt bislang Deals über 15 bis zu 25 Jahren ab.

 

Die Einigung soll laut Times binnen der nächsten drei Wochen publik gemacht werden. Äußerungen von MOL u.a. auf der Jahreshauptversammlung der Ryanair letzte Woche deuteten bereits darauf hin, dass man offensichtlich mit der EU-Verkehrskommisssarin einen Deal erreicht hat.

 

Nach meinem Verständnis hat die Entscheidung übrigens nichts mit dem Strassburger Verfahren zu tun, dort ging es darum, dass der Ryanair exklusiv Vergünstigungen eingeräumt wurden, die anderen Airlines nicht zugänglich waren.

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Ryanair hat zu dem Thema folgendes mitgeteilt:

 

Ryanair wishes to confirm the following;

 

It remains confident that the low cost base negotiated at Brussels Charleroi Airport complies with the State aid rules in that it was/is similar to the low cost base offered to Ryanair at other privately owned airports, and it was non exclusive on the basis that it was offered to a number of other airlines, all of whom refused to take up the enormous risk

of developing new routes and traffic at Brussels Charleroi.

Ryanair has no idea what the form or content of the final Commission decision will be. It bases its confidence on repeated public statements by Commission officials that the Commission does not wish to inhibit the growth of low fares airlines, it does not wish to see the closure of Brussels Charleroi Airport and it wants to promote the growth of new routes and air travel at regional and secondary airports.

Ryanair wishes to make it clear that the bizarre references to a "compromise plan" carried in a number of newspapers are entirely without foundation. As Ryanair has repeatedly clarified, should the Commission's decision attempt to alter Ryanair's cost base and low fares at Brussels

Charleroi or any other low fare airport by so much as one centime, then Ryanair will appeal this decision to the Courts. Ryanair will not compromise on the issue of low costs or low fares.

To the extent that the Commission's final decision focuses on issues of time periods, or transparency, or the availability of low cost arrangements to other competing airlines, then Ryanair would support any rules or framework which will allow publicly owned airports to compete with privately owned airports all over Europe. However, there will be no compromise on costs, or low fares and jobs at Charleroi.

 

 

Finally, Ryanair wishes to reiterate its call on the Commission to expedit this investigation which has been the subject of repeated delays. The decision was originally due before the Summer, then September, and has now been further delayed with a latest timetable of "mid November". These delays and this uncertainty is damaging not just to Ryanair, but to regional airports and the growth of low fare air travel in Europe. These delays have

allowed our high fare competitors to launch unfounded and in some cases entirely untrue claims in local and regional courts in an attempt to block competition and limit choice for consumers. In the recent case of the Strasbourg-London route, Air France are now charging air fares that are forty times higher than the fares that were previously being charged by Ryanair.

 

Any opinions expressed by Ryanair or Michael O'Leary on the ultimate outcome of this investigation are precisely that, opinions. Opinions expressed by Ryanair should not be misreported as compromise agreements having been reached with the Commission - when this is simply not the case.

 

Offensichtlich hat man - nach den Erfahrungen in Strassburg bzw. dem Berufungsgericht in Nancy- etwas Sorge, dass sich die Kommission unter Druck gesetzt fühlt.

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Habe mal ein bißchen weitergestöbert, was hintergrund der Ryanair-PM war - scheint, als ob O'Leary mächtig ins fettnäpfchen getreten ist und ein paar Leute in Brüssel gegen sich aufgebracht hat:

 

http://www.expatica.com/belgium.asp?pad=88...p;item_id=35225

 

An EC spokesperson has angrily denied Ryanair chief executive Tony O’Leary’s comments that the Commission would soon clear the company of any wrongdoing in a controversial deal between the airline and Charleroi airport

 

"He does not have any idea of what the Commission is going to decide, mainly because the Commission does not have an idea of what it is going to decide - I think it's very dangerous for everyone to have these declarations and strange speculations,” Commission spokesman, Giles Gantelet, told British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.

 

O’Leary had declared the investigation into subsidies the budget airline received from the Belgian airport in return for their custom as practically over, saying that Ryanair would simply have to adjust some “details”.

 

The Charleroi inquiry began after a French court ruled that payments received by Ryanair from Strasbourg airport in return for custom were illegal.

 

In the meantime, Virgin Express, which competes with Ryanair on Belgian routes, has urged the Commission to restore fair competition to the country’s skies.

 

In an open letter, company director Neil Burrows asked that all who had abused the principle of free competition be stopped promptly so as to restore balance to the Belgian aviation industry.

 

O’Leary has threatened to start court action if any part of the Commission’s findings negatively affect Ryanair.

 

 

Auslöser war wohl ein kleiner verbaler Amoklauf vom O'Leary am Donnerstag letzter Woche:

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0...1069716,00.html

 

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary launched a savage, expletive-laden attack on Eurocrats, "high-fare" rivals and Britain's air traffic control service yesterday, accusing all three of holding back the low-fare industry.

 

Pulling no punches in front of an audience packed with commercial rivals, EU policymakers and air traffic control officials, Mr O'Leary's anger climaxed in an outburst which left many shocked.

 

"We are not going to be shouldered with stupid legislation coming out of Brussels which has no effect but to make air travel less competitive," he told the European Policy Centre in one of his more moderate statements.

 

Coming weeks before the European commission decides whether Ryanair receives illegal state subsidies from publicly owned Charleroi airport in Belgium, his comments are unlikely to curry favour.

 

That decision is seen as critical for the future of Ryanair and other low-cost carriers, and Mr O'Leary made clear he would fight any negative ruling: "No bureaucrat or Brussels lobbyist is going to block it [Ryanair's business model].

 

"If it does, we're off to the European court. We're not going to let this one drop and we'll be off to every European court in every hill and valley. We will never surrender.

 

"The commission's decision on Charleroi is crucial. It will be our Waterloo and we will win it." ...

 

Mr O'Leary said he felt as though he had been savaged "by a dead sheep", predicting that the commission would only ask him to change "some details" such as stipulating that the firm's deals with airports would have to be shorter - five years instead of 15.

 

Categorically denying that Ryanair received illegal subsidies from the Belgian public authorities, he lampooned "high-fare" rivals as "rip-off merchants" who were "raping" passengers and hiring lawyers and lobbyists to stymie low-cost competition.

 

He also attacked new EU rules that give air travellers whose flights are delayed, overbooked or cancelled generous levels of compensation.

 

"No, we shouldn't give you a bloody cup of coffee [if a flight is delayed]," he raged. "We only charge €19 (£13) [for the original ticket]."

 

Describing the new rules as "ill-conceived", "stupid", "unfair" and "a dog's dinner of nothingness", he argued that compensation should be linked to ticket price and warned that the airline industry would challenge the new rules in the European courts. "Where do you think that the compensation is going to come from? From all the other passengers, of course.... "