EC orders 'state aid' probe at Ryanair base
THE European Commission has launched an investigation into possible state aid at Ryanair's third largest base, Frankfurt Hahn.
The probe is the first to be launched into a Ryanair base since the Commission fined the airline €3m for state aid breaches at Charleroi Airport in 2004.
News of the investigation broke yesterday afternoon, just hours after Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary suggested oil could settle at below $100 a barrel "over the medium term".
Since the Charleroi judgement, the EC has launched seven probes into smaller European airports used by Ryanair for a handful of flights.
Yesterday's Hahn move marks the first time the EC has taken aim at a major piece of Ryanair's network since Charleroi.
Launched as Ryanair's second continental base in 2002, Hahn is now home to 11 aircraft, a scale only topped by Dublin (about 20) and Stansted (about 40).
Ryanair has also committed to growing its Hahn fleet to 18 planes by 2012.
The latest wranglings come after Lufthansa last year unsuccessfully tried to convince a German court that Ryanair was in receipt of state aid from Hahn. The low-fares airline last night reacted with fury to the probe, accusing the EC of a "politically motivated" attack.
Referring to the EC's failure to act on Ryanair's complaints of state aid towards European airlines, Ryanair head of legal and regulator affairs Jim Callaghan said the latest investigation showed the Commission has "no intention of fairly enforcing the state aid rules".
Reports
He added that Ryanair only learned of the investigation from "reports on the wires" and had "no idea what they're investigating since Hahn is a privately owned airport".
A former military air strip, Hahn is 65pc owned by Frankfort Airport owners Fraport AG, while the remainder is held equally by the regional state authorities of Hesse and the Rhineland-Palatinate.
Findings are "unlikely" to be made before the European courts rule on Ryanair's March challenge to the Charleroi judgment, since "all the other airport challenges hinge on precedent from Charleroi," Mr Callaghan added. That judgment is expected by the end of the year.
Earlier yesterday, Mr O'Leary told a press conference that while oil might rise as high as "$140 or $150 a barrel" prices will "settle back at something below $100 a barrel" in the next 12 or 18 months.
"I hasten to add I don't have a clue," he added.
- Laura Noonan
