Blueprint
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 6-K
Report of Foreign Private Issuer
Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
For the
month of August 2017
RYANAIR HOLDINGS PLC
(Translation
of registrant's name into English)
c/o Ryanair Ltd Corporate Head Office
Dublin
Airport
County Dublin Ireland
(Address
of principal executive offices)
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant files or will file
annual
reports
under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
Form
20-F..X.. Form 40-F
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the
information
contained
in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to
the
Commission
pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities
Exchange
Act of
1934.
Yes
No ..X..
If
"Yes" is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the
registrant
in
connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 82- ________
RYANAIR CALLS ON BUNDESKARTELLAMT & EU COMMISSION
TO
BLOCK LUFTHANSA-AIR BERLIN TAKE-OVER & PREVENT
LUFTHANSA MONOPOLY RAISING FARES FOR GERMAN CONSUMERS
Ryanair,
Europe's No. 1 airline, today (30 Aug) urged the German
Bundeskartellamt and the EU Commission to block the stitch-up
between the German Government, Lufthansa and Air Berlin to carve up
Air Berlin's assets, while excluding major competitors and ignoring
both competition and State Aid rules, and called for immediate
action to block this anti-consumer take-over.
This
insolvency is being timed to allow Lufthansa to take over a
debt-free Air Berlin (its major German competitor) which will be in
breach of all German and EU competition rules, and this Lufthansa
monopoly has been supported by the German Government providing
€150m of State Aid, so that Lufthansa can acquire Air Berlin,
as Lufthansa moves from a 68% share to a 95% monopoly, which will
result in German customers and visitors suffering higher air fares.
Competitor airlines will struggle to get slots in major airports
such as Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Munich, where Lufthansa
will control over 80% of peak time slots.
Ryanair
also urged all Berliners to vote "Yes" on 24th Sept to keep Tegel
Airport open. The new Brandenburg Airport will have a capacity of
only 27m passengers, which is less than Dublin (a city with
one-third of Berlin's population). With almost 33m passengers
already travelling through Berlin's 2 existing Schonefeld and Tegel
airports last year, the planned closure of Tegel will leave Berlin
with less airport capacity than its existing traffic.
In Berlin, Ryanair's Michael O'Leary said:
"The German Bundeskartellamt and the European Commission must block
the anti-consumer stitch-up playing out between the German
Government, Lufthansa and Air Berlin. Given that the German
Government is centrally involved in these manoeuvres (loaning
€150m), the Bundeskartellamt will be afraid to impose
competition rules. On this basis, it is vital that the European
Commission takes immediate and decisive action to protect German
consumers from a Lufthansa high fare monopoly.
Ryanair will continue to grow in Germany as more and more German
customers choose our low fares and "Always Getting Better" customer
service over Lufthansa's high fare
monopoly"
ENDS
For further information
please contact:
Robin
Kiely
Lisa Maria Rumpf
Ryanair
DAC
Ryanair DAC
Tel:
+353-1-9451949
Tel: +353-1-9451775
press@ryanair.com
rumpflm@ryanair.com
SIGNATURES
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf
by the undersigned, hereunto duly authorized.
Date: 30
August, 2017
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By:___/s/
Juliusz Komorek____
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Juliusz
Komorek
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Company
Secretary
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