Italian regulator fines Ryanair €255m for abuse of dominant position

(Sharecast News) - The Italian competition authority said on Tuesday that it has fined Ryanair €255.7m for abuse of a dominant position. The regulator said that between April 2023 and "at least" April 2025, the budget airline put in place "an elaborate strategy" which affected the ability of online and traditional travel agencies to buy Ryanair flights on ryanair.com.

"In particular, the company's strategy blocked, hindered or made such purchases more difficult and/or economically or technically burdensome when combined with flights operated by other carriers and/or other tourism and insurance services," it said.

An investigation by the ICA found that at the end of 2022, Ryanair began to explore ways to hinder travel agencies.

At first, the airline rolled out facial recognition procedures on its website aimed at users who purchased their ticket through a travel agency. At the end of 2023, when the authority's investigation was underway, Ryanair totally or intermittently blocked booking attempts by travel agencies on its website.

The third phase of the airline's strategy, in early 2024, saw Ryanair impose partnership agreements on OTAs and Travel Agent Direct accounts on traditional agencies, containing terms that restricted agencies from offering Ryanair flights in combination with other services.

"To 'persuade' agencies to partner up, Ryanair periodically blocked bookings and launched an aggressive communication campaign against non-signatory OTAs, labelling them 'pirate OTAs'," it said.

The ICA said Ryanair's conduct weakened competition from agencies, both directly and indirectly, and in turn reduced the quality and range of tourism services available to consumers.