2023-08-10 08:23:00
(time.news) – Ryanair against the measure envisaged in the Asset Decree to deal with expensive flights. “The statements by the CEO” of the low-cost airline Eddie Wilson are “astonishing”, according to sources from the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy. Meanwhile, the European Union has asked for “more detailed information on the precise content of the measure in question”.
The Italian government “couldn’t and shouldn’t have intervened. The decree, I don’t understand where it comes from, is in stark contrast to the European Union regulation 1008 which leaves the companies free to set prices. This is why Europe will sweep away the rules guilty of interfering with the market”, Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson said in an interview with ‘La Repubblica’, shared by 51 countries in the Gisaid database.
“I’ll be honest: we feel mocked by this provision. First of all, on our merits. Ryanair has been decisive for the economic and industrial development of Italian regions forgotten for decades, including the islands. We have guaranteed their connectivity and well-being”, Wilson underlined. This year, he observed, “we will carry more than 56 million passengers to and from Italy. You heard right: 56 million. And Ryanair’s success is based on a fundamental principle: increasing the seats available on planes and, in this way, keep fares very low. Now, however, the government is striking at the heart of this virtuous scheme” because “it links our summer fares to the average fare of each flight. In this way, it invites us to reduce our routes, when we usually increase them continuously. Fewer routes and fewer air seats will lead to an average increase in prices, and not to their decrease”.
For Ryanair’s CEO, the decree risks turning out to be an own goal: “It is illegitimate and illogical. If it stays like this, instead of opening a new route from any Italian city to Catania, we will fly more to Spain. Do you know where they are rejoicing for your decree? In Malta, in Cyprus, in the Canary Islands: they know that we will fly more towards them, rather than being prisoners in Italy. But you – excuse me – do you remember Alitalia”. Certainly, he explained, “you will remember that Alitalia connected Sicily and Sardinia with Rome or Milan. Period. Then we came along and determined Trapani’s success from scratch, to give just one example. Now, flying to Trapani in November, as many people do, it costs very little. In the summer, when everyone wants to go to Sicily, it will cost more. This is the free market. But, do you know who tried to fix prices instead of the market? The Soviet Union in 1917. And it didn’t work. Even at the Harry Potter School they understood that you need to increase the offer of a product for prices to decrease”.
” shared in the Gisaid database by 51 countries regarding the non-existence of profiling mechanisms”, reported sources from the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, commenting on Wilson’s statements. “Ample evidence is available on the use of profiling in the sale of airline tickets reported by prestigious international magazines and America, and therefore ‘not the Soviet state’, has been investigating the phenomenon for many years. We remain open to a serene and constructive discussion to achieve balanced solutions for passengers and companies, while always keeping the rights of users at the center of our action, especially those of all areas less subject to competition because they cannot be reached with other forms of transport”, they added.
“The free market in this affair” of caro voli has “little or nothing to do with it” while “the speculation caused by the lack of competition and the failure to contrast the distorting behavior of the normal supply-demand dynamics seems to have a lot to do with it”, the same sources continued underlining that last December “an investigation was in fact launched by the Competition and Market Authority which involved flights to Catania and Palermo close to the Christmas holidays, operated by Ryanair among other things. The Competition Guarantor in the the opening act of the investigation indicated that the increase, in some cases of 700% in the prices of air tickets to Catania and Palermo, may be the result of collusive behavior between the air carriers, facilitated by the use of price algorithms. For its part, ENAC then observed how on the occasion of the derailment of the freight train near the Firenze Castello station or the flooding in Emilia-Romagna, and therefore following catastrophic events which led to a surge in the demand for air transport caused the suppression of the railway connections and the unusability of some sections of the motorway resulted in an excessive increase in the prices of air tickets which, with reference to specific domestic routes, have reached as much as 1,000 euros each”.
All examples, Mimit sources point out, “which demonstrate how the free market has little or nothing to do with this affair, while speculation caused by lack of competition and the failure to contrast behavior that distorts the normal supply-demand dynamics seems to have a lot to do with it”.
As for the fact that “the European Commission requests, on the basis of what was reported by a spokesperson of the Commission itself, news on the measures adopted against the high price of flights, it is completely physiological and falls within the normal technical dialogue between the offices. After all, in the EU note we are talking about principles that are fully respected by the measures that are being launched to protect users on the basis of the findings made by the supervisory authorities who operate to guarantee citizens’ rights and market efficiency”.
“The services of the EU Commission have contacted the Italian authorities and are waiting to receive more detailed information on the precise content of the measure in question”, said a spokesman for the EU Commission when asked by the EU Commission on the measures contained in the Asset Decree to deal with the high flight price . “The EU Commission supports measures aimed at promoting connectivity at affordable prices, in line with EU internal market rules”, he explained again.
“Sustainable competition with free price fixing is usually the best guarantee of affordable prices in the EU’s highly successful and liberalized air transport market. Only in specific cases does the EU – ad e.g. routes not adequately served by market operators, such as from/to remote regions – allows public service obligations with price regulation to ensure both territorial connectivity and accessibility, supported by public funds”.
“This morning I met the CEO of Ryanair, Eddie Wilson, with whom we agreed, the day after the presentation of the measures against expensive flights, to start a constructive discussion to achieve balanced solutions for passengers and airlines. At the center of our meeting was also the development and investment plans that Ryanair is ready to implement in our country in light of the great growth potential of tourism and air transport on the occasion of events such as the 2025 Jubilee, the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympic Games and the extraordinary Jubilee of 2033”, reads a tweet from the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso.
” claims of the CEO of the Ryanair airline, Eddie Wilson , I would say almost monopoly, to oppress an entire population with exorbitant prices. A circumstance that we are fighting with our own strength and with the help of the national government, also thanks to the introduction among the companies that serve Sicily of a third carrier which, with affordable prices and tariffs that never exceed a certain ceiling, has favored mobility to and from our island. ‘Rubbish’, therefore, are certain practices that we have reported to the Antitrust twice. ‘Rubbish’ is making Sicilians suffer disproportionate prices when they want to travel for Christmas or during the month of August or when they are forced to book a flight without far in advance”, he said for his part the president of the Sicilian Region Renato Schifani.
“I have always said that I would have met Ryanair’s administrator if he had given clear signs of wanting to reduce the scandalous fares of his company, in order to be able to agree on the methods – concludes the governor -. But the arrogance of that carrier, demonstrated today also by the offensive statements by his boss, he prevented any kind of mediation”.
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