Low cost carrier Ryanair has accused Stansted Airport of “monopoly abuses” and claims it has been overcharging airlines for the past five years.
The airline said it has instructed its lawyers to file a formal complaint against Stansted Airport with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the Competition Commission.
Between 2007 and 2011, Ryanair said Stansted Airport’s charges have increased from €3.30 per passenger to €6.60.
Ryanair maintains that the doubling of passenger charges are a deliberate ploy to make Stansted uncompetitive, but generate “monopoly profits” for BAA.
Stansted has dismissed the claims – a spokesman for the airport said: “We do not believe Ryanair has any case for legal action.”
He said the charges Ryanair has paid have been scrutinised by the Competition Commission and comply with the price cap set by the CAA.
“Ryanair doesn’t pay a penny more than the regulator allows, and less than they would pay at Gatwick,” he said.
Ryanair also claims that there have been “unexplained costs” transferred to Stansted by BAA HQ and Heathrow, which “inflates” the airport’s costs and “understates” its profits, while “boosting” those of BAA and Heathrow.
Michael O’Leary, the airline’s CEO, said: “Stansted’s regulatory accounts, in our opinion, clearly show BAA gaming the regulatory system and abusing its monopoly power to inflate its Regulatory Assets Base and inflate its costs in order to overcharge airlines.”
The accounts also show a “myriad of unexplained intra-group costs, reallocation of Heathrow costs and an 80% increase in Stansted’s electrcity bill in 2010 due to a revised allocation of Heathrow’s electricity costs in a blatant attempt to understate the enormous profits being expliited by BAA Stansted monopoly,” he said.
Ryanair’s complaints follow the Competition Commission’s announcement that BAA must sell Stansted and either Edinburgh or Glasgow.
The Competition Commission and CAA were today (July 27) unable to confirm they had received any formal complaint from Ryanair.
The CAA has a direct role in monitoring airport charges, while the Competition Commission merely reviews these charges before letting the commission have a final say.
A spokesman for the CAA told ABTN that it would have to look into Ryanair’s claims, when it received the complaint.