Ryanair Just Got Slapped With a 255 Million Euro Fine for Being Ryanair

Italys competition authority just handed Ryanair a 255 million euro fine and honestly? The reasons are peak Ryanair.

The budget airline giant got caught systematically screwing over travel agencies to protect its direct booking model. Not alleged. Found. After what the Italian regulators called a “complex investigation.”

This is one of the largest fines ever slapped on an airline by the Italian regulator.

What Ryanair Actually Did

According to the official AGCM press release, Ryanair ran a three-phase strategy to crush travel agency competition:

Phase 1: Rolled out facial recognition checks specifically targeting customers who booked through third parties. Want to fly Ryanair but bought through an agency? Get ready for extra verification hoops.

Phase 2: Straight up blocked travel agencies from booking on ryanair.com. Disabled payment methods. Mass-deleted accounts linked to online travel agencies. Just… deleted them.

Phase 3: Forced agencies into restrictive partnership agreements that limited their ability to bundle Ryanair flights with other services. You know, the thing that makes travel agencies useful.

Euronews reports Ryanair also ran “aggressive communication campaigns” against agencies that wouldnt sign up, labeling them “pirate OTAs.”

The Numbers Behind the Fine

Ryanair controls 38-40% of passenger traffic to and from Italy. Thats dominant position territory which by itself isnt illegal. Abusing that dominance by blocking competitors from the market? Thats the problem.

The conduct ran from April 2023 through at least April 2025 according to regulators. Two years of systematic anti-competitive behavior.

The Irish Times notes Ryanair shares dipped 0.2% on the news. Not exactly a crash but definitely felt.

Ryanairs Predictable Response

Ryanair called the ruling “bizarre” and “unsound” and announced immediate appeals. Classic.

The airlines defense has always been that their direct model benefits consumers through lower prices and more transparency. They claim travel agencies add “hidden markups” and mess with their ability to communicate flight changes to passengers.

Michael O’Leary gonna Michael O’Leary.

What This Means for Travelers

Honestly probably not much in the short term. Ryanair will appeal this for years. Even if they lose eventually these kinds of regulatory battles take forever to actually change corporate behavior.

But it does signal that European regulators are paying attention to how dominant airlines treat distribution channels. If youve ever tried booking a Ryanair flight through a third party and hit weird walls, now you know why.

The airline industry keeps finding new ways to make headlines.