Italy’s Antitrust Authority has imposed a fine exceeding €255 million on Ryanair for abuse of dominant market position, covering conduct from April 2023 to at least April 2025. The penalty applies jointly to Ryanair DAC and its parent company, Ryanair Holdings plc, following a lengthy and complex investigation.
According to the Authority, the airline implemented a multi-layered strategy aimed at obstructing travel agencies - both online and brick-and-mortar - by making it harder or more costly to purchase Ryanair flights outside its official website. The alleged objective was to prevent agencies from combining Ryanair tickets with flights from other carriers or with additional travel services such as hotels and insurance.
Ryanair’s dominant position in Italy, the Authority noted, is reinforced by a market share of around 38–40% of passengers on routes to and from the country, combined with a significant gap in performance compared to competitors. This market power allegedly enabled the airline to act largely independently of consumers and rivals.
The contested practices evolved over time, ranging from facial recognition requirements for agency-booked passengers to intermittent or total blocks on agency reservations, account cancellations and payment refusals. Later, Ryanair reportedly imposed restrictive partnership agreements, accompanied by public pressure campaigns against non-compliant agencies.
Only in April 2025, with the introduction of API integrations for online travel agencies, did conditions begin to improve. Until then, the Authority concluded, Ryanair’s conduct curtailed competition and reduced consumer choice and service quality in the travel market.