Ryanair eyes significant court victory over rival airline Lufthansa

RYANAIR is on course to secure a significant court victory in Germany over rival Lufthansa.

A German court said it is likely to rule against a bid by Deutsche Lufthansa, Europe’s second-biggest airline, to stop what it claimed was a government subsidy to low-cost competitor Ryanair Holdings at an airport.

The higher regional court of Koblenz told Lufthansa that it intends to reject the case, the court said in a statement posted on its website last night. Lufthansa claims that Ryanair is receiving a subsidy in the form of lower rates at Frankfurt-Hahn airport.

Ryanair, Europe’s biggest discount airline, is Frankfurt-Hahn’s largest customer in the passenger business and operates as many as 40 flights per day at the airport. The airport, which is majority-owned by airport operator Fraport, handled four million passengers last year, most of them with Ryanair.

Ryanair and Lufthansa have clashed over the Irish carrier’s strategy at Frankfurt-Hahn, which lies about 120km west of Frankfurt, Lufthansa’s main airport base.

Lufthansa will not comment while the case is pending, spokesman Peter Schneckenleitner said.

In May, a lower court rejected Lufthansa’s claim that Frankfurt-Hahn violated European Union law by charging Ryanair fees that were lower than the advertised rates.

The Cologne, Germany-based carrier can respond to the appeals court’s initial assessment by the end of February. The court will then issue a ruling, it said.