Italy's competition authority imposed a penalty surcharge on Ryanair, a major European low-cost carrier, on suspicion of obstructing travel agencies' sales of bundled products. Ryanair pushed back, saying it is not a dominant market player.
On the 23rd, according to AFP and Bloomberg, Italy's competition authority said it imposed a penalty surcharge of 256 million euros (about 447.5 billion won) on Ryanair on suspicion of abusing a dominant market position.
The authority determined that from April 2023 to April 2025, Ryanair hindered travel agencies from selling bundled services such as airline tickets and rental cars. It was found that methods such as requiring additional verification from passengers seeking to purchase bundled services or deleting the account were used.
Italy's competition authority said these practices weakened competition among travel agencies and hindered market competition. The authority has been investigating the related suspicions since the summer of 2023.
Ryanair is a low-cost carrier headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Its market share in Italy is 31.7%, exceeding the 9.9% of the state-owned carrier Ita.
Ryanair refuted, saying, "This decision is not valid." The company's position is that it does not fall under a dominant market player regulated by competition law.