Repeat Offender Ryanair Again Convicted for Unlawful Competition and Denigration Against eDreams ODIGEO

• Court finds Ryanair guilty of unlawful campaign of untruthful claims against eDO and orders the cease and removal of all denigrating statements.

• Ryanair ordered by the Court to issue a public retraction recognising that eDreams Prime offers discounts to consumers.

• This ruling follows interim measures issued by the same Court last year, which were disobeyed by Ryanair, leading to an unprecedented criminal warning against the airline.

BARCELONA, Spain--(BUSINESS WIRE)--eDreams ODIGEO (hereinafter, ‘the Company’ or ‘eDO’), the world’s leading travel subscription company, today welcomed yet another significant legal victory against Ryanair. The Barcelona Commercial Court No. 12 found Ryanair D.A.C. guilty of unlawful competition and denigration against eDO, adding to the airline's extensive track record of convictions for this illegal behaviour.

The ruling conclusively established that Ryanair's denigrating claims about eDO and its Prime subscription, part of an aggressive and continued campaign initiated by the airline in 2023, are untrue. As the Court noted, this campaign was disseminated through Ryanair's websites, press releases, social media, and in public statements from its top executives, including Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary. The ruling found that these claims were in reality issued with the aim of undermining a key competitor. Consequently, the Court has issued a permanent injunction obligating Ryanair to cease its denigratory campaign, remove all denigratory content from all platforms, and issue a public retraction.

Ryanair forced to publicly admit eDreams Prime offers savings after years of untruthful claims

As a significant remedy, the Court has mandated that Ryanair publish a public retraction on its own website and social media channels for a period of six months. This forced retraction explicitly requires Ryanair to admit the value of eDreams Prime after its years-long campaign denigrating the service with claims now deemed illegal and untrue.

Notably, the Court orders Ryanair to publish: "Ryanair recognises that eDreams Prime is a legitimate subscription service that offers consumers savings on flights, hotels, packages and car rentals."

This decision follows an interim order from the same Court last summer. In that prior ruling, the Court had already found Ryanair's attacks to be a “perfectly organised campaign designed to promote the Ryanair website for booking flights and associated services” and ordered the airline to immediately cease its conduct. However, in a display of defiance, Ryanair repeatedly breached those measures and continued its smear campaign, which ultimately led the Court to issue a formal criminal warning against the airline for disobedience, warning of potential criminal charges if its conduct continued.

Ryanair's appeal of these interim measures was also fully rejected by a higher court, the Provincial Court of Barcelona. In its June decision and based on evidence presented, the higher court stated that in "the majority of cases, [eDreams Prime prices] are more advantageous than those offered by Ryanair." The Provincial Court therefore rejected the appeal, concluding that with the "available evidence it cannot be sustained that the offensive claims used by Ryanair are truthful."

This latest legal victory by eDreams ODIGEO also builds upon a previous definitive ruling from Spain’s Supreme Court—a decision reached after Ryanair's appeals were systematically rejected at all prior court instances—which had already mandated Ryanair to cease its denigrating and anti-competitive behaviour towards eDreams ODIGEO. Ryanair has also been convicted for denigrating actions and unfair competition against other independent travel agents.

Guillaume Teissonnière, General Counsel at eDreams ODIGEO said: “For Ryanair, this must feel like a broken record. ‘Déjà vu’ doesn't even begin to cover it. Time and again, courts have resoundingly condemned their denigration tactics. Their motive is transparent: to unfairly crush competition. Enough is truly enough. Ryanair must finally abandon these bullying methods, compete fairly on the merits and adhere to the law. It's long overdue.”

eDreams ODIGEO remains dedicated to upholding fair competition within the travel industry and safeguarding the interests of travellers.

-ENDS-