Empty flights: Ryanair takes advantage of the controversy to tackle Lufthansa

The Irish company is used to coms and obviously might not pass up this opportunity to tackle its German competitor. While Lufthansa recently affirmed that it would fly empty planes to keep its airport slots, Ryanair suggests instead this Wednesday to sell off its seats to reward the European taxpayers who have supported it … the European Commission.

Ryanair today called on the European Commission to ignore Lufthansa’s false claims regarding the operation of ghost flights for the sole purpose of to block their slots and to protect themselves from competition from low-cost airlines, ”the Irish company said in a statement. He insisted: “The solution is simple: Lufthansa should sell the seats of these low-cost flights and reward European consumers, many of whom have funded the 12 billion euros 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.

“Lufthansa loves to cry crocodile tears”

“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 at large airports, ”said CEO Michael O’Leary.

The CEO of the German group Carsten Spohr had warned him 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”. Very disparaged words.

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 have been 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.

Moreover, faced with the controversy, the French Minister of Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbarri, assured that France, as the new president of the EU, would not allow this “perfect aberration” of empty flights to occur.