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Spain provisionally suspends multi-million euro fine imposed on Ryanair
Last year, the consumer watchdog in Spain fined 5 airlines €179 million over ‘abusive’ policies
The High Court in Spain has agreed to temporarily suspend the multimillion-euro fines imposed by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs on Ryanair and Norwegian Air for charging their customers for hand luggage, among other “abusive” practices.
Spain imposed sanctions on five airlines in November last year for violating passenger rights, with the stand-out a huge €107.8 million ruling against Ryanair. But this week, the charge has been provisionally suspended, alongside the €1.6 million owed by Norwegian, until appeals lodged by both carriers have been resolved.
Budget airlines could soon have bigger problems though, as the EU has just this week submitted a proposal that would change hand luggage rules dramatically. If passed, airlines will have to allow travellers to carry a 7kg case on board, free of charge, on top of the small under-seat bag currently allowed by most.
On top of the carry-on fees, the Ministry pulled the airlines up for several other unfair policies, such as charging travellers to reserve seats beside their children and refusing to allow passengers pay in cash, something which Spain insists its airlines must all do.
Other practices judged abusive by Madrid were requiring passengers to pay for printing boarding passes at the airport, omitting information on their websites and a lack of transparency when it comes to all of these additional extras.
However, while they don’t have to pay up right now, the Spanish High Court is still asking for a security deposit of sorts from both Norwegian and Ryanair; until the issue is resolved, Ryanair will need to provide a bank guarantee for €110 million and Norwegian Air will have to set aside €108 million.
In the legal reasoning for its decision, the court argues that it is “impossible at this stage of the proceedings to prejudge the merits of the case” and because it is “clear that the amount demanded is, indeed, very high, its advance payment would cause a delay and difficulties for the appellant's treasury.”
Therefore, the fines are suspended “provided that the appropriate security is provided” by Ryanair and Norwegian.
In addition to Ryanair and Norwegian, Vueling, Easyjet and Volotea were also fined €39 million, €29 million and €1.1 million, respectively.
According to the Spanish courts, the appeals filed by the three remaining airlines are also still pending resolution.
Image: Ryanair
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