Ryanair has challenged a decision by the UK antitrust regulator ordering it to slash its stake in Aer Lingus to no more than 5%.

Aer Lingus have successfully reorientated their business model to make the company the natural choice for customers in Europe and Britain to fly to the US.

Ryanair says it is prepared to sell its stake in rival Aer Lingus in a bid to appease a British anti-competition probe, a move analysts said was an apparent gambit to avoid a forced selldown.

Ryanair has confirmed that it will sell its stake in Aer Lingus.

Ryanair has criticised the UK Competition Commission's (CC's) provisional decision that Ryanair "has influence" over Aer Lingus and that this "could reduce competition".

Ryanair has accused the EU of acting bizarrely and making decisions on a political and not a commercial basis.

Aer Lingus have released a strong statement which says Ryanair should never have launched a takeover bid for the airline.

Ryanair has appointed the former secretary general of the Department of Transport, Julie O’Neill, to the board of Ryanair Holdings.

The ISEQ overall share index declined yesterday as investors await the outcome of the ECB meeting later in the week.

Ryanair is planning on buying a stake in London’s Stansted Airport after competition authorities in the UK won a court case forcing the break-up of the BAA airport monopoly.

Aer Lingus has posted a pre-tax loss of €24.5m for the six months to the end of June during what is typically the airline’s lossmaking portion of the year.

Analysts are not backing Ryanair to succeed in its Aer Lingus bid.

The Board of Aer Lingus has today urged shareholders in the airline not to accept Ryanair's share purchase offer.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in the UK has referred Ryanair's stake in Aer Lingus to the Competition Commission.

BSkyB was handed a reprieve by the competition watchdog today after a ruling over the broadcaster’s stranglehold on pay-TV movies was reversed.

Ryanair is appealing directly to the UK Supreme Court to try to stop the Office of Fair Trading from investigating the airline’s shareholding and attempted takeover of Aer Lingus six years ago.

A completed merger involving Kerry Foods has been referred to the Competition Commission in the UK.

Dublin: Ryanair has welcomed calls from the ESRI for the “introduction of terminal competition at Dublin Airport”, where the two terminals are sold off to different competing owners, in a move that would mirror the British ruling that the BAA monopoly of London’s airports should be broken up to promote competition and a better deal for passengers.

Ryanair has called for the breakup of the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) following the sale of Gatwick Airport by the British Airport Authority (BAA).

RYANAIR is to cut capacity at London’s Stansted Airport by 40% for its winter schedule and is likely to follow it with cuts at Dublin Airport.

Commodity stocks led the London market higher today as the FTSE 100 Index looked to finish the week on a positive note.

Ryanair have welcomed the UK Competition Commission’s recommendation for the break-up of the BAA "monopoly" over London airports.

The founder of Waterstone’s today confirmed he was trying to buy the book chain back for £280m (€405m) – but only if owner HMV drops its interest in rival Ottakar’s.

The British competition watchdog today defied the literary fraternity by ruling that a takeover of bookseller Ottakar’s by HMV would not harm choice or quality.

The UK Competition Commission is in Belfast today, taking evidence as part of an unprecedented investigation into alleged "rip-off" charges imposed on personal account holders by banks in the North.

The Spanish bank poised to take over Britain's Abbey National will walk away if the £8.2bn (€12.1bn) deal is stalled by competition concerns, it was reported today.

British supermarket group Morrisons today unveiled the terms of a fresh £3bn (€4.28bn) takeover offer for rival chain Safeway.

INDEPENDENT News & Media is to sell its regional newspapers in Britain for 88.7 million.

The Competition Authority is to launch a Phase Two probe of the proposed acquisition by ferry operator Stena of two routes on the Irish Sea.

Supermarket group Wm Morrison, which last week received the go-ahead to bid for rival Safeway, may be forced to raise its offer to £3.5bn (€5bn), it was reported today.

The FTSE 100 Index got off to another difficult start today, sinking back below the 4200 mark after a fresh sell-off on Wall Street last night.

While there were strong gains early in the week, profit-taking after recent rallies and fears about upcoming earnings reports led to a fall in the major markets on Wednesday and Thursday.

Bullish sentiment from the corporate and economic sectors saw the markets close another consecutive week in positive territory.

Leading shares were surging in opening deals, with the FTSE 100 testing the 3,900 point barrier as tobacco and oil stocks advanced, while positive news from Oracle overnight aided second-line technology stocks, dealers said. At 8.59 am, the FTSE 100 index was up 67.9 points to 3,903.1, having earlier touched a high of 3,907.2.