(Finance) – TheCompetition and Market Guarantor Authority has initiated precautionary proceedings in relation to the pending proceedings for the hypothesis of abuse of a dominant position in relation to Ryanair initiatives That exclude travel agencies from the possibility of intermediating the purchase of tickets via the Irish airline’s website, setting a deadline of April 18 for a hearing and allowing the parties to file documents.
It is a decisive turning point in the proceedings which would lead, pending the final decision, to the adoption of a measure aimed at suspend Ryanair’s actions to block the sale of flights by travel agenciesallowing them to access the offer of Ryanair flights under the same conditions as in direct consumer purchases on the company’s website, thus restoring full competition.
A result concrete and significant to protect the organized tourism sectoror, the result of a common and multi-front action strategy by trade associations Fiavet-Confcommercio and AIAV – Italian Association of Travel Agents, to which ADICONSUM was added, who have been collaborating profitably for months. Specifically, the action is taking place on two fronts: the proceedings before the Competition and Market Authority undertaken by AIAV, with the subsequent support of Fiavet, and the judicial proceedings before the Court of Milan, initiated by Fiavet with subsequent intervention by AIAV.
In both cases, the impossibility for travel agencies to sell Ryanair tickets is contested. In fact, agencies are required to verify their identity of the passenger through facial/document recognition with consequent sending of communications to customers blocking reservations made by travel agencies.
The request is to inhibit any form and procedure of obstacle or discrimination in the purchase of intermediary tickets through a travel agency, including a series of procedures that are not required in the purchase. The consumer must also be free to purchase the ticket directly or rely on a travel agency.
“It is a provision that we have been waiting for – declares the president of Fiavet-Confcommercio, Giuseppe Ciminnisi – being convinced of the correctness of what we have reported to the competent authorities. The ordinary times of the very complex procedure would not have allowed the rights of travel agents to be safeguarded for the next summer season and for the entire current year. The precautionary measure, on the other hand, allows for an immediate and effective response and demonstrates that there is validity in the allegations made.”
Fulvio Avataneo, president of AIAVadds: “This is an important day on the path that will lead us to re-establish a more balanced relationship between the players in the tourism supply chain, reducing the excessive power of the big players who in the past have unilaterally dictated the rules of the game. A result that demonstrates the value and strength of a profitable and synergistic collaboration between associations which have the same objective: the protection of the rights of travel agencies”.
“The initiation of the urgent precautionary proceeding by the AGCM demonstrates that the reasons brought to attention through joint action on multiple fronts by Fiavet, Aiav and ADICONSUM – he declares Carlo De Masi president of ADICONSUM – were founded. We now expect that on 18 April the Authority will be able to definitively put an end to a practice which, in excluding travel agencies, also harms the interests of Consumers who must continue to have all the possibilities of free choice”.