Brussels, 12/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - Irish low-cost airline Ryanair announced on Tuesday 12 February that the European Commission had told it that it would be rejecting its planned buy-up of Aer Lingus as uncompetitive, despite the recent concessions made by Ryanair (see EUROPE 10779) to address the Commission's concerns after an initial bid was rejected in 2007 and a second bid in 2009. Ryanair said that it had asked lawyers to lodge an appeal in the European courts against any ban, because the Commission's decision was clearly a political decision to protect the Irish government's rights in Aer Lingus (it is an Aer Lingus shareholder) rather than competition law. A Ryanair spokesperson said that Brussels was using much tighter criteria for Ryanair than for any other airline, given Ryanair's concessions for the Aer Lingus deal. The Commission refused to comment, but Ryanair said its formal decision was expected at the end of the month or beginning of next.
In June 2012, Ryanair offered €694 million for Aer Lingus, in which it already owns a 29.82% stake, with the aim of forming Ireland's biggest airline. Aer Lingus says the offer is too low and has urged shareholders to reject it. (FG/transl.fl)