By Victoria Bryan
BERLIN, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Ryanair
RYA.I
will continue to grow in Germany, even though it sees any plans by Lufthansa
LHAG.DE
to take over parts of insolvent rival Air Berlin
AB1.DE
as a conspiracy to halt the Irish carrier's expansion, its chief executive told Reuters.
Air Berlin on Tuesday filed for insolvency after shareholder Etihad said it would not provide any more funding, turning to the German government for a 150 million euro ($176 million) loan to help its keep planes in the air while it negotiates the sale of parts of its business to Lufthansa and one other airline.
Ryanair has already filed a complaint with German and EU competition authorities over the insolvency process, which it describes as a "conspiracy" because it believes that Lufthansa will end up with an even more dominant position in Germany.
"All this is down to prevent Ryanair growing in Germany, but it won't stop us," Michael O'Leary told Reuters in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
"A merger will take Lufthansa from 68 percent to 95 percent of the German domestic market and from 47 percent to 60 percent control of the total German market, which would be in breach of every known competition threshold rule and guideline in Germany and the EU," he said.
The German government rejected the claims of a conspiracy by Ryanair. It has said it expects no anti-trust issues because Air Berlin will be sold off in bits.
O'Leary said he hoped the EU authorities would step in to force competition remedies, such as giving up airport slots to rivals.
When asked if Ryanair could bid for Air Berlin assets, he said he expected a deal would go through too quickly to give Ryanair a chance to bid and that only unattractive airport slots would be offered up.
"We will continue to grow, we're still buying more aircraft. But we will struggle to get slots, to base more aircraft in airports like Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich," he said.
($1 = 0.8540 euros)
(Editing by Maria Sheahan) ((victoria.bryan@thomsonreuters.com; +49 30 2888 5169; Reuters Messaging: victoria.bryan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net Twitter:@vl_bryan))
BERLIN, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Ryanair
Air Berlin on Tuesday filed for insolvency after shareholder Etihad said it would not provide any more funding, turning to the German government for a 150 million euro ($176 million) loan to help its keep planes in the air while it negotiates the sale of parts of its business to Lufthansa and one other airline.
Ryanair has already filed a complaint with German and EU competition authorities over the insolvency process, which it describes as a "conspiracy" because it believes that Lufthansa will end up with an even more dominant position in Germany.
"All this is down to prevent Ryanair growing in Germany, but it won't stop us," Michael O'Leary told Reuters in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
"A merger will take Lufthansa from 68 percent to 95 percent of the German domestic market and from 47 percent to 60 percent control of the total German market, which would be in breach of every known competition threshold rule and guideline in Germany and the EU," he said.
The German government rejected the claims of a conspiracy by Ryanair. It has said it expects no anti-trust issues because Air Berlin will be sold off in bits.
O'Leary said he hoped the EU authorities would step in to force competition remedies, such as giving up airport slots to rivals.
When asked if Ryanair could bid for Air Berlin assets, he said he expected a deal would go through too quickly to give Ryanair a chance to bid and that only unattractive airport slots would be offered up.
"We will continue to grow, we're still buying more aircraft. But we will struggle to get slots, to base more aircraft in airports like Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich," he said.
($1 = 0.8540 euros)
(Editing by Maria Sheahan) ((victoria.bryan@thomsonreuters.com; +49 30 2888 5169; Reuters Messaging: victoria.bryan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net Twitter:@vl_bryan))
