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Business and Made in Italy Minister
Adolfo Urso said Tuesday that "Italy is a sovereign country and
won't be blackmailed by anyone" after Ryanair Group CEO Michael
O'Leary announced reductions in services over the government's
flight-price decree.
Urso also dismissed assertions that the decree was illegal,
saying what was illegal was the conduct of an airline that "has
been punished 11 times by the competition and market authority
for having breached the market rules and the rights of consumers
of this country".
The decree, passed last month, effectively caps fares to Sicily
and Sardinia.
It clamps down on the use of algorithms to set flight prices
amid claims that they were responsible for soaring fares in the
summer.
The decree bans the algorithms if applied to connections to
Sicily and Sardinia; if applied to peaks in demand linked to
seasonal factors; and if they lead to the price of tickets or
accessory services being 200% higher than the average price.
"The price decree is based on rubbish data," O' Leary said as he
presented the company's winter services, arguing civil-aviation
authority ENAC had given the government "false, inaccurate
advice".
"It is a stupid, idiotic decree, which will reduce flights by
increasing fares.
"We have already reduced flights by 10% to Sardinia and we will
do this same for Sicily this winter".
He added that the only new routes Ryanair would operate from
Italy this winter would be international services, not domestic
ones.
ENAC President Pierluigi Di Palma said O'Leary's comments were
"surreal".
He said an "oligopoly" had formed in the Italian domestic
air-transport market. "particularly in the case of Ryanair,
which has bought other companies like Air Malta.
"It's clear there is a no longer a free market, but the
imposition of the price and little consumer protection".
Antitrust Authority President Roberto Rustichelli, meanwhile,
told a Senate hearing that the decree did not hinder airlines'
ability to "independently set their price policies" adding that
it appeared to try to impede "illegal exploitation of market
power to the damage of particularly vulnerable consumers".
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