Ryanair warns of Slovenia "airport monopoly"

NEWS FLASH


Ryanair's Chief Commercial Officer, David O'Brien, has warned countries not to sell airports to monopolists like in Slovenia, Georgia and Greece, labelling the move a "disaster". Speaking to "Forbes", Mr O'Brien argues that foreign operators often collect all the profits, direct income to their home bases and leave locals with a short supply of flights and high fares. He adds that in the long-term this will not benefit consumers. Ryanair currently operates services to every European Union-member state with exception to Slovenia. The budget airline maintained flights to Maribor for several months, between 2007 and 2008, but the service was suspended. In late 2014, Slovenia's union-owned bank, Delavska hranilica, acquired a 57% stake in the airport, conceding that one of the reasons for its investment was to show that the sale of Slovenia's largest airport operator, Aerodrom Ljubljana, which manages Ljubljana Airport, to Germany’s Fraport was a "mistake". Fraport acquired a 100% stake in Ljubljana Airport's operator just under two years ago. In 2013, Ryanair requested for the European Commission to swiftly act and conclude its investigation into whether Adria Airways accepted state aid and benefits from the Slovenian government to the tune of up to 85.5 million euros from 2007 to 2011, contrary to European Union competition laws. In a letter to the Commission, Ryanair said, “State aid was provided to Adria despite its inefficiencies while Ryanair has to develop its own market and is losing revenue”. The Commission subsequently ruled in favour of Adria.

Comments

  1. Anonymous11:59

    Typical Ryanair rubbish .... They could fly without any hindrances to/from Slovenia since 2004, when Slovenia joined EU, but they demanded special conditions like in MBX ... Their "fairness" is obvious, since they are the only airline in EU that demanded the swift decission from the EU Comission regarding the state aid to Adria Airways. They just wanted to get rid of competition (JP).

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:49

      In all fairness, JP does not exactly represent any threat to FR (even in Slovenia). The main problem for FR in Slovenia is LJU airport. They subsidise JP heavily and they wouldn't do the same with FR. It's not exactly level playing filed in Slovenia, now, is it?

      Delete
  2. Anonymous13:24

    Hmm, but what is best for normal passengers - give zilion of €/$/... to money loosing national airline and fly expensive to major airports or give small part of that amount to low cost airline and fly cheap to smaller airports...

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    1. Anonymous09:53

      In many Balkan countries, the first option is the most popular. Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, ...

      Imagine how many flights could Ryanair, Wizz Air or EasyJet operate for all the millions that were wasted on national carriers...

      Delete
  3. Anonymous15:29

    Then use MBX. It is still Slovenian owned. Has low fees and enough potencial for FR (no FR at LJU, ZAG or GRZ)

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  4. Anonymous16:43

    My guess is, we'll soon see FR in Slovenia. If there is anyone wise enough at MBX, they should immediately get in touch with them (instead of wasting time with Express Airways).

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:50

      +1000

      Haplek

      Delete
    2. Anonymous07:57

      From MBX they could open:
      Barcelona
      Paris
      London
      Berlin
      Memmingen
      ...
      ...

      Delete
  5. Anonymous18:41

    Delavska hranilnica now owns a 100% stake.

    Haplek

    ReplyDelete

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