The CEO of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary is locked in battle with Spain.

The CEO of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary is locked in battle with Spain. | Majorca Daily Bulletin reporter

Humphrey CarterPalma29/01/2025 16:04
TW
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Spain’s Minister of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030, Pablo Bustinduy, has responded to the CEO of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, after calling him a ‘crazy communist’, claiming that the airline boss ‘conveys a certain nervousness’ and that it ‘is part of a strategy of pressure or blackmail’. The background to this controversy is the fine of more than 100 million euros imposed by the General Secretariat of Consumer Affairs on the Irish airline for the surcharge on hand luggage and other irregularities. In addition, this sanction also affects four other low-cost airlines.

For the head of the Irish airline, the planes are full and they cannot carry unlimited luggage for security reasons. In statements to the programme ‘Al Rojo Vivo’, on LaSexta, the minister defended the action taken ‘these are fines based on a sentence from the Court of Justice of the European Union, on positions of the European Parliament and Spanish legislation’.

Bustinduy stated that he does not believe that ‘all these institutions are communist madmen’, pointing out that what they are doing is ‘enforcing the law. What the airline is seeking is for the law to be adapted to its interests, for airport fees to be adapted to its business model and not the other way around, which is how it should be’, according to the Minister of Social Rights.

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The minister pointed out that the airline now has the right to appeal to the courts and the European Union, while affirming that his obligation is not to be intimidated and to defend the law with ‘all rigour in defence of consumer rights’.

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The fine imposed on Ryanair, together with Vueling, Easyjet, Norwegian and Volotea, which was announced in November 2024 and totals 179 million euros, put an end to the investigation initiated by the Directorate General for Consumer Affairs in 2023 into practices that have been classified as ‘very serious’ infringements of consumer regulations.

This is the first time that sanctions classified as very serious have been confirmed by the General State Administration in the field of consumer affairs, a ministry that acquired sanctioning powers in June 2022. The sanctions also include an express prohibition on continuing the practices that have been sanctioned.

These include demanding payment of a supplement for cabin hand luggage, the extra cost for the price of a ticket in continuous seats for dependents and companions, not having cash payment available or imposing a fee for printing the boarding pass. The calculation of the penalties has been carried out by calculating the fine based on the profits obtained by the airlines from the offending practices, as established in the Consumer sanctioning regime.