Costa News Spain Breaking News | English News in Spain.
BUDGET airline CEO Michael O’Leary has stoked a row with a Spanish minister after dressing his likeness up as a clown to protest ‘historic’ fines against five airlines.
Michael O’Leary has taken to social media to pressure the government to rescind a €179 million fine against Ryanair.
Five low-cost airlines have been fined for charging passengers to carry hand luggage or print tickets or reserve seats.
EasyJet from Ireland, Vueling Volotea Norwegian and Vueling Volotea were among those fined.
O’Leary dressed up a cardboard cut out of Spain’s Minister of Consumer Affairs Pablo Bustinduy as a clown, saying: “€179M illegal bag fines will increase Spanish fares, which Ryanair cut by 8% in 2024.”
The CEO flew to Madrid today for the press conference, in which he announced 179,000 €19.99 tickets will go on sale within the next three days.
He posed alongside the clowns, holding a sign which read: “Get crazy pricing (before this Clown pushes up prices!)”
O’Leary reportedly posed with a ‘I love rising prices’ poster and referred to the minister as a ‘crazy idiot’ multiple times.
The airline claims the fine goes against EU Regulation 1008/2008, which states airlines are ‘free to set the price of their EU air services.’
According to the Spanish newspaper El Confidencial the European Commission asked the Spanish government for more information in order to determine if the fine was justified.
Ryanair also referenced a European Court of Justice judgment from 2014 in which the judge determined that Vueling has the right to determine their prices including baggage.
However, it also said that the customer should not be charged a fee for hand luggage without specifying dimensions.
Bustinduy claims charging for seats and hang luggage is a ‘very serious’ infraction of Article 97 of Spanish Air Navigation law and will put sanctions worth six to eight times more than the profit gained by the airlines.
The fines will vary depending on the amount each company earns from their practices.
Ryanair, a top earner, is faced with paying around 60%, or €107 million.
Spanish law states airlines must ‘transport hand luggage for free’, but this could be usurped by EU law.
It is also thought the airlines may benefit from safety rules linked to the ‘weight and size’ of hand luggage.
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