European Commission prohibits Ryanair's proposed acquisition of Aer Lingus

The European Commission has prohibited Ryanair's takeover of Aer Lingus. The transaction would have lead to the creation of a dominant airline in Ireland, with a monopoly position on 22 routes, and more than 80% on traffic on a total of 35 overlap routes. The parties would have also held in excess of 80% of total short-haul capacity at Dublin airport. The Commission investigation found that the merger would have resulted in a significant lessening of competition for passengers to and from Ireland, given that the airlines have a similar no-frills point-to-point business model and compete for a common set of consumers. The Commission also found that the slot-based remedies and behavioural commitments offered by Ryanair were insufficient to alleviate its competition concerns. Cristina Caffarra, Giulio Federico, Hugh Wills and Daniel Donath advised Aer Lingus throughout the course of the Commission's investigation. Part of the Commission's conclusions on the unilateral effects which would have resulted from the merger was based on econometrics evidence submitted by CRA on behalf of Aer Lingus.

See Press Release

Print this page