Ryanair today (Wednesday January 12) called on the European Commission to ignore Lufthansa’s false claims regarding the operation of + ghost flights + for the sole purpose of + blocking + their slots and protecting themselves from competition from low-cost airlines, “the Irish company, used to these communications blows, said in a statement.
“The solution is simple: Lufthansa should sell the seats for these low-cost flights and reward European consumers, many of whom have funded the 12 billion euros (nearly 13 billion Swiss francs) in state aid that Lufthansa and its subsidiaries in Belgium, Austria and Switzerland have already received taxpayers hard hit during the last two years of the Covid crisis, “quipped the” low-cost “specialist.
And her boss to drive home the point: “Lufthansa loves crying crocodile tears over the environment as it does everything to protect its slots. Slots are the means by which it blocks competition and limits choice in markets. major airports, “said Michael O’Leary, quoted in the press release.
The CEO of the German company, Carsten Spohr, had warned on December 23 that he would be forced to perform “18,000 unnecessary flights” during the winter “only to keep his take-off and landing rights”.
In normal times, European rules provide that companies must use at least 80% of the take-off and landing slots allocated to them at airports, otherwise they lose their rights the following season.
These rules have been rendered inapplicable by the health crisis which has caused the collapse of air traffic since March 2020, leading Brussels to suspend them.
Since March 28, 2021, companies are required to use 50% of their take-off and landing slots in order to be able to keep them, but this level is considered excessive by many players in an airline sector that is still recovering.
The International Air Transport Association (Iata), which represents the vast majority of companies, has notably judged this rule “unrealistic”, while the Omicron variant has put a new brake on reservations.
But for the association of European airports ACI Europe, the warnings against “empty flights” are “unrelated to reality” since the companies can bring into play a clause of “justified non-use of slots”.
For the French Minister for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, the statement of the boss of Lufthansa, “the only company to report such a situation”, is explained by the desire to influence the negotiations relating to the level of these slots for the end of the year.
“We will ensure that no European company is forced to operate empty flights. The French presidency of the European Union has just started. We will not hesitate to act”, promised Mr. Djebbari in a series of messages Saturday on Twitter.
afp / jh