The Spanish justice has suspended the strong fines imposed by the government on low -cost Ryanair and Norwegian airlines, accused of abusive practices, mainly in the billing of manual luggage, we learned from the judicial source on Thursday.
In a decision dated June 19, the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid estimated that these sanctions, of the order of 107.7 million euros for Ryanair and 1.6 million for Norwegian, should not enter into force until the case was decided.
The court, which justified this decision due to the significant cash difficulties that these significant fines could lead to the two companies, in exchange for requested guarantees, a total amount of 112 million euros, according to the same source.
For Ryanair, “illegal” sanctions
These fines had been announced in November 2024 by the Spanish consumption ministry, committed for several months against the practices that it considers abusive of low -cost companies. They had immediately been denounced by interested companies, which had appealed.
These fines “will be canceled by the European courts, which have repeatedly defended the law of European airlines to establish their prices and policies without government interference,” they assured Ryanair’s head, Michael O’Leary, calling these sanctions as “illegal.”
Three other low -cost companies had been sanctioned by the Ministry at that time: Vueling (39.3 million euros), Easyjet (29.1 million) and Volotea (1.2 million). The appeals presented by these companies have not yet been examined by the Court, according to the judicial source.
In addition to luggage billing, these companies had been criticized for billing the choice of the headquarters of travelers who accompany dependent people, such as the disabled, but also, in the case of Ryanair, the fact of paying the impression of the boarding card at the airports.
A prize greater to 10 billion euros
Since then, the debates have begun at the level of European institutions on the reform of regulations that supervise the rights of aerial passengers.
In this context, the European Parliament Transportation Commission adopted a proposal that would allow travelers to take a personal object for free in the cabin, such as a bag or a backpack, as well as other luggage of seven kilograms to the fullest.
The Association of Airlines for Europe (A4E), which represents the sector, criticized this proposal, believing that it would result in ticket prices for people traveling to light.
According to the calculations of the Diario Diario Corriere della will bewho crossed the internal data of the seven main low -cost European airlines, the configuration of the aircraft and financial results, this option paid constitutes A major awardEvaluated last year to 10 billion euros. And to specify that more than half of the European passengers subscribe to additional options when buying a ticket.
Source: BFM TV
