IAG, which owns British Airways, has filed a complaint to the European Union over the UK government’s rescue of the regional airline, Flybe, as a potential breach of state aid rules.
Ryanair has also written a letter to UK chancellor Sajid Javid, warning him that any move to help Flybe by cutting air passenger duty for all domestic flights — and not international flights — would “constitute unlawful state aid” to the airlines operating on those routes, reports the Financial Times. Eoin Kealy, head of competition and regulatory at Ryanair, wrote in the letter, seen by the FT: “We trust that the UK government will not act in a manner that unlawfully favours a financially profligate airline over other airlines that offer UK passengers low fares and reliable service.”
easyJet chief executive, Johan Lundgren, has also criticised the rescue package: “Taxpayers should not be used to bail out individual companies, especially when they are backed by well-funded businesses,” he said.
The EU Commission has commented that it is ready to discuss with the UK the “compatibility of proposed public measures with EU state aid rules”.