Ryanair offered Lufthansa to sell tickets cheaper

Created on 25.01.2022 09:45

The largest European low-cost airline Ryanair has offered the German Lufthansa not to operate on empty airplanes, but instead to sell cheap tickets. Thus, the low-cost airline responded to a complaint from Lufthansa management that stated on their inability to operate 18,000 unnecessary flights, aimed at maintaining slots at airports.

Lufthansa and its subsidiaries Brussels Airlines, Swiss, Austrian Airlines received public assistance in the amount of billions of euros. According to the Head of the Ryanair group Michael O'Leary, companies could thank the taxpayers for the assistance provided by selling cheap tickets for empty flights. Airlines were eligible for airport slots if they operated at least 80% of their flights pursuant to the old requirements. The COVID-19 pandemic led to the empty flights that are called ghost flights.

Regulators around the world have abandoned the slot rule in 2020, but have started reintroducing it as the industry showed signs of recovery. In Europe, an airline may lose the right to a slot if it operates less than 50% of flights. Against this background, Ryanair, which has been intensively expanding routes in Europe in recent years, has urged the European Commission to force Lufthansa and other airlines to abandon slots that they do not use.

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