Ryanair’s big rivals opt out of lobby

RYANAIR has failed to persuade its main competitors to join its planned lobby group for European low-cost airlines.

Rivals Easyjet, the British Midland-owned BMIbaby, and Richard Branson’s Virgin Express have opted out of the new European Low Fares Airline Association.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary called for an alliance of no-frills airlines earlier this month. He said existing lobby groups were dominated by higher-fare carriers and did not speak for airlines like Ryanair.

Ryanair is not a member of the Association of European Airlines, which includes Aer Lingus, British Airways and Air France.

Executives from a number of airlines met in Dublin recently to discuss plans for the new alliance.

Ryanair has teamed up with five operators, the British regional carrier FlyBE, Italy’s Volare group, Norwegian-owned Sterling, Slovakia-based SkyEurope and Hapag-Lloyd Express, the German airline that flies from Dublin to Berlin.

The alliance will look to establish a strong presence in Brussels to represent the interests of no-frills carriers, who maintain a keen rivalry but see the merits in uniting in opposition to higher-fares competitors.

The alliance has not agreed a position on the contentious area of airports subsidies, which is at the centre of Ryanair’s ongoing dispute with the European Commission over its commercial arrangements with the publicly-owned airport at Charleroi, near Brussels.