Italy fines Ryanair 255 million euros - Competition Authority: For abuse of dominant positions
Italy's Competition Authority fined Ryanair 255 million euros for abusing its dominant position, after the airline used technical barriers and booking restrictions to drive travel agencies out of the market.
"Following a complex investigation, the Authority found that Ryanair had put in place a strategy that affected the ability of online and traditional travel agents to purchase Ryanair flights on ryanair.com," the Authority stated.
But what did Ryanair do?
First, the airline introduced technical issues specifically targeting customers booking through travel agents. Since April 2023, Ryanair has implemented facial recognition checks and other verification steps for agency-linked bookings, while direct customers have remained largely unaffected.
These measures made agency sales slower, less reliable, and more expensive, discouraging consumers from booking through intermediaries and weakening these agencies' ability to compete.
Second, Ryanair directly prevented access to its flights by intermittently or completely blocking travel agents from booking on its website. According to the Authority, this included disabling payment methods and mass deletion of accounts linked to online travel agents.
Since Ryanair flights are an essential resource for agencies selling travel packages to and from Italy, these actions prevented the agencies from operating normally. The Authority concluded that Ryanair was no longer simply competing with intermediaries, but was actively denying them access to the market.
Third, Ryanair used this pressure to force agencies into restrictive partnership agreements. Agencies were required to sign contracts that restricted their ability to combine Ryanair flights with other airlines, accommodation, insurance or travel services - a crucial part of how agencies compete.
Ryanair accounts for up to 40% of passenger traffic to and from Italy.
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