That Was The Week That Was 08-12 May 2023
Ryanair’s Excellent Wonderful Glorious Adventure
Ryanair had an excellent, wonderful, glorious adventure of week this week, the week that was. The sort of week where buying 300 new aircraft is not the top of the pile. A US$40 billion purchase was not the major story at Ryanair this week. And it is hard to know which of the other stories are better.
It started on Monday when Sebastian Ebel, the CEO of TUI Group noted that the days of low fares are over. Do not expect any last-minute deals and cheap tickets, he advised. That will not hurt Ryanair either, of course. Still, cheery news to start the week. But that was nothing compared to what was to come next. Truly Ryanair was having an excellent, wonderful, glorious week. A week where Ryanair won not one, not two but three State Aid litigations. On Monday it was able to argue successfully that Hahn Airport’s charging agreement with Ryanair was not a breach of the State Aid rules, which was what Lufthansa was trying to assert. In a German court. This is one for the record books. Then, those aircraft on Tuesday. Ho hum. Another day of fleet expansion.
But that was nothing on what was to come next. Once, trips by Ryanair to the European Court of Justice were very predictable. It was as if their honours looked at the parties and that was that. But on a Wednesday that must surely go down in corporate history, not one, but two wins on the same day. And, it was at the ECJ. Either of those sentences is remarkable. Both together and you are talking an excellent, wonderful, glorious week. Ryanair was able to strike down decisions by the Commission (DG COMP, now that you ask) approving the Covid period State Aid given to both SAS and, and… Lufthansa!
By Thursday, their Honours were really getting into the swing of giving out unexpected, or at least humorous, decisions. I hope you are sitting down, because this is a doozy. You may already know their honours’ contribution to comedy in the area of Reg 261 and passenger rights. The prevailing view is that for something to be ‘extraordinary’ and thus allow the airline to avoid payment to passengers for delays, it really has to be extra-extraordinary. In the past, a technical issue with an engine, for example, has been held as something that airlines should anticipate. Not flying for safety reasons is not a good reason for not flying. But, but, on Thursday, the ECJ excelled itself. It held, and I am not making this up, that the cancellation of a flight because of the sudden death of a co-pilot was not extraordinary. From now on, apparently, airlines should carry a spare pilot, just in case. The good news is that the gags will keep coming from Luxembourg, because the court has also advised that it intends handing down its decisions on appeals by Ryanair on airline State Aid to Maltese carriers on 22 May, and then in what will surely be a standing room only affair at the General Court, on 24 May it is the decision on Ryanair’s appeal on airline state aid to Italian carriers. It promises to be a barnburner.
What could possibly top this excellent, wonderful, glorious week for Ryanair? Well, you may know that it started a petition recently to force the Commission to act on the de facto ban on overflights over France when there are strikes within DSNA, the French air traffic agency. I know! Strikes at French ATC! Imagine. Still, the rules of starting a petition in Europe are clear, but the hurdles are high. One needs a million signatures, from not less than seven Member States. If you can hit these thresholds, the Commission will consider it. Indeed, it must consider it within 1 month. EU officials will meet you as part of that. Within 3 months you will have a public hearing at the European Parliament to explain your initiative. Within 6 months the Commission will issue a formal reply – and explain why it will or will not propose a new law based on the proposal. So, the big question is what is the number of signatures Ryanair currently has? About 950,000. Next week, the week that will be, promises to be just as excellent, wonderful and glorious for Ryanair. Watch this space.