US EditionItaly antitrust regulator fines Ryanair $300 million over dealings with travel agencies
- On Tuesday, Italy's competition authority fined Ryanair €255,761,692 for using an abusive strategy from 2023 to April 2025 that hindered travel agencies' access to the ryanair.com website.
- Ryanair's market position shows it holds 36.5% scheduled capacity and up to 40% passenger traffic in Italy, leveraging ryanair.com to pass on 20% cost savings via direct sales.
- Investigators found the carrier introduced facial-recognition checks and verification procedures from April 2023, while blocking payment methods, deleting OTA-linked accounts, and imposing partnership agreements with travel agents.
- The authority ordered that Ryanair must immediately cease the conduct and pay the fine, requiring a compliance report within 90 days, while Ryanair said it will appeal and CEO Michael O'Leary called the ruling 'legally unsound'.
- Seen across Europe, the decision adds to regulatory pressure, eclipsing a 107.8 million Spanish fine and coming a day after Apple’s 98 million euro penalty.
124 Articles
124 Articles
Ryanair received a fine of EUR 255 million from the Italian competition authority for abuse of dominant position, and the low-cost Irish airline is accused of having put in place an abusive strategy to limit access to its flights to travel agencies.
The Italian Competition Authority has fined low-cost airline Ryanair more than €255 million (approximately $300 million), the authority announced Tuesday.
The Italian competition regulator, the AGCM, has imposed a fine of 255 million euros on Ryanair this Tuesday for “abuse of dominant position” by hindering the distribution of its tickets to travel agencies, which has harmed them. The agency estimates that the airline has incurred this abuse at least between 2023 and 2025. Being the leading company in the Italian market, with a share of between 38% and 40% of the passengers transported, is a key …
Ryanair fined €255 million in Italy for abuse of market power
Italy’s competition authority has fined Ryanair €255 million after finding that the airline abused its dominant position by obstructing the sale of its tickets through travel agencies. The penalty, imposed by the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), follows a long-running investigation into Ryanair’s commercial practices in the Italian market. The watchdog concluded that… Source
The airline's goal was to make it more difficult for online travel agents to sell tickets in favor of its own website.
According to the Italian competition authority, RyanAir has pursued a "misuseful strategy" at the expense of travel agencies. Now, the airline is to pay a million-dollar penalty.
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