The Italian government, which has decided to put a cap on the price of plane tickets on certain domestic flights, assured this Thursday that the Irish company Ryanair, the first airline on the peninsula, would respect European legislation, calling it a measure “illegitimate”.
The controversy with Ryanair arose as a result of the decision on Monday by the far-right government headed by Giorgia Meloni to limit the price of tickets to Sardinia and Sicily “during periods of maximum demand”, that is, mainly during the summer, to a maximum of “200% of the average ticket price”, which therefore includes the off-peak periods of the year.
“We intervene respecting European standards […]. The State must intervene when the citizen is subjected to an action that does not correspond to the rules of the market”, justified this Thursday the Minister of Companies Adolfo Urso in the continuous information channel TGCOM24. “There is no real alternative to [vols à destination des] islands,” he insisted.
56 million travelers
Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson denounced an “illegitimate and illogical” move in a daily interview the Republic released on Thursday. Ryanair, the leading airline in Italy with 56 million travelers to and from the peninsula, “is based on a fundamental principle: to increase the available seats on planes to keep prices low,” said Eddie Wilson.
“By linking our summer prices to the average price of each flight,” the Italian government “incentivizes us to reduce the number of our flights,” he says. “Fewer flights and fewer seats will drive prices up, not down,” he added. “Do you know where they are exultant after this decision? In Malta, Cyprus and the Canary Islands they know that we will have more flights at home, instead of being imprisoned in Italy,” he assured, announcing an appeal before the European Commission.
Veiled criticism of Brussels
The latter also indicated on Thursday that it had requested clarification from Rome on this decree-law. “In general, the Commission supports measures to promote mobility at a reasonable price, in line with the rules of the EU internal market,” said Adalbert Jahnz, spokesman for the Commission.
“And, in this sense, sustainable competition that allows prices to be freely set is, in general, the best guarantee of reasonable prices”, he added in a veiled criticism, recalling that States can only intervene in this area in rare circumstances, very specific and rare cases.
Source: BFM TV
