Ryanair’s bid to keep stake in rival suffers blow

Ryanair has been dealt a fresh blow in its battle to control the future direction of its shareholding in Aer Lingus.

While, as expected, the British Court of Appeal yesterday upheld a previous UK Competition Commission —now, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) —ruling ordering the airline to lower its near 30% stake in Aer Lingus to just 5%; it did not grant Ryanair the right to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court in London.

Ryanair has always said that if yesterday’s ruling went against it, it would appeal the decision. And it reiterated that line yesterday, saying the CMA order was based on “fanciful hypotheses, secretive evidence and unsubstantiated assumptions”.