On 7 June 2018 the ICA closed its preliminary investigation against the low-cost air carrier Ryanair because of the multiple flights it cancelled starting from September 2017 as a result of organisationalreasons mainly ascribable to Ryanair’s own management decisions and within its control.

That unfair commercial practice was also accompanied by misleading information given to passengers with regard to their cancelled flights, since the airline did not specify that, besides the possibility to receive a ticket refund or a flight change, it was also possible to receive a monetary compensation – if and when provided for by Regulation (EC) 261/2004.

Considering all the circumstances, the ICA calculated a basis administrative sanction amounting to 2,000,000 euro. The basis sanction was reduced of 10% because Ryanair complied with the precautionary measure issued by the ICA in October 2017 and then increased of 50,000 euro because the company was already subject to other decisions issued by the ICA with regard to unfair commercial practices. The actual amount of the administrative sanction imposed by ICA to Ryanair amounts to 1,850,000 euro.

Davide Scavuzzo