Court Hears Charleroi Appeal

Ryanair Holdings PLC
12 March 2008


 EUROPEAN COURT HEARS RYANAIR'S APPEAL AGAINST COMMISSION'S CHARLEROI DECISION

Ryanair, Europe's favourite airline, today (Wednesday, 12th March 2008)
confirmed that the European Court of First Instance (CFI) had heard its appeal
against the EU Commission's anti competitive decision in the Charleroi case in
2004. The Commission ignored 30 years of Market Economy Investor Principal
precedent cases and changed its own (MEIP) rules in the Charleroi case in order
to find against Ryanair. The Commission failed to apply the accepted MEIP test,
which obliges it to allow state owned companies to compete on a level playing
field with similar privately owned companies.

The Commission ignored all of the evidence provided by Ryanair and industry
experts like Infratil and TBI, which proved that the agreement between Ryanair
and Charleroi Airport was the result of a competitive tender and did not involve
state aid.

Commenting today following the hearing at the CFI, Ryanair's Head of Regulatory
Affairs, Jim Callaghan, said:

'Ryanair is happy to have finally forced the European Commission into court. We
are confident that the CFI will overturn what is a patently wrong and
anti-competitive decision. The case evidence clearly shows that the Commission
went to extreme lengths to invent a finding of state aid in this case and to use
it as a precedent to regulate all publicly owned airports.

At the hearing in Luxembourg, Ryanair raised the following grounds:

   •The Commission failed to apply the Market Economy Investor Principle
    (MEIP), which is the test for proving that a public company was acting in
    the same way as a private investor would have in the same circumstances.

   •The Commission ignored evidence that the Charleroi agreement resulted
    from Ryanair's negotiations with several other lower cost airports.

   •The Commission ignored the fact that Ryanair's cost base at Charleroi was
    specifically offered to other airlines willing to make the same investment
    in the airport that Ryanair did.

   •The Commission ignored the fact that Ryanair demonstrated that it had
    lower costs at several other privately owned airports.

   •The Commission ignored the huge growth in traffic, profits and value of
    Charleroi airport as a result of Ryanair's investment in the airport
    (roughly €200 million).

   •The Commission ignored the fact that other airlines, commercial retailers
    and airport investors have come to Brussels Charleroi Airport as a result of
    the successful partnership between Ryanair and the airport.

The Commission's decision was therefore seriously wrong and legally untenable.
We look forward to a positive decision of the CFI and are confident that the
successful partnership between low fares airlines and regional airports will be
vindicated and the anti competitive actions of the European commission
overturned'.

ENDS.                                     Wednesday, 12th March 2008


For reference:

Peter Sherrard - Ryanair

Tel: [phone]

Pauline McAlester/ Robert Marshall - Murray Consultants
Tel: [phone] 


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