Ryanair files BAA complaint at high court

Ryanair has filed documents at the High Court in London alleging monopoly abuse of fuel levies by BAA plc, the dominant operators of London airports and owners of London Stansted Airport.

The BAA at Stansted built a fuel hydrant system in 1991, which they said cost of £12.5m (€18.8m).

BAA introduced a fuel levy charge, which was designed to recoup this cost.

Since then, the BAA has given repeated undertakings in writing that this levy would be eliminated when the capital costs were recovered.

Ryanair says BAA has broken these agreements and that to date BAA Stansted has, in a 14-year period, recovered over £34m (€51.1m) in fuel levies, three times the original cost.

Ryanair’s chief financial officer Howard Millar said: "We can no longer allow the BAA to continue to charge £5m (€7.5m) per annum in fuel levies to recoup the cost of a fuel hydrant system that was built 14 years ago for £12.5m (€18.8m).

“The hydrant system has been paid for three times over and accordingly the fuel levy is a rip-off overcharge.

“Arising from this legal action filed today, we anticipate a substantial reduction in the fuel levy in the order of £4m (€6m) per annum.”

This morning on the ISEQ, Ryanair had lost 25c (5.1%) to stand at €4.70 by 10.30am.