eDreams ODIGEO (hereinafter, ‘the Company’ or ‘eDO’), the world’s leading travel subscription business and one of Europe’s largest e-commerce companies, today welcomed the landmark decision by Barcelona Commercial Court No. 12 to issue a formal criminal warning to Ryanair Holdings plc for its non-compliance with the Court’s order to cease denigrating eDreams ODIGEO and its Prime programme.
This court action follows the urgent interim measures imposed on Ryanair Holdings plc earlier this summer, which mandated the airline to immediately cease its denigrating statements against eDreams ODIGEO and its Prime programme.
Despite the Court’s clear and binding directive, Ryanair continued its denigrating misconduct on repeated occasions, prompting the Court to escalate the matter. In response to Ryanair’s non-compliance, the Judge agreed with eDreams ODIGEO’s request to put the airline on formal notice that any further disobedience may result in criminal consequences under Article 556 of the Spanish Criminal Code (Código Penal), which contemplates potential criminal penalties.
As part of the ruling, Ryanair is once again ordered to remove all denigrating content about eDreams ODIGEO from every platform and channel where such statements have been made.
In the interim measures ruling issued in July, the statements made by Ryanair against eDreams ODIGEO and eDreams Prime were preliminarily found to breach Article 9 of the Spanish Unfair Competition Law (Ley de Competencia Desleal), which explicitly prohibits denigrating advertising without objective or factual justification. The Court concluded that Ryanair’s denigrating claims constituted a “perfectly organised campaign designed to promote the Ryanair website for booking flights and associated services.”
In its September decision, the Court reaffirms that these urgent interim measures against Ryanair remain fully in force and must be complied with immediately.
Ryanair’s ongoing non-compliance of binding court decisions
Ryanair’s non-compliance with the Barcelona Commercial Court’s order comes on the heels of its defiance of a previous definitive ruling from Spain’s Supreme Court, which had already mandated the airline to cease its denigrating and anti-competitive behaviour towards eDreams ODIGEO. Ryanair had exhausted all appeals in the lower courts, losing at every level, before Spain’s highest court issued its final, binding decision against the airline. This order has been repeatedly disregarded by Ryanair.
The Spanish Supreme Court ruling also explicitly confirmed that eDreams is legally entitled to distribute Ryanair flights as part of its offering, exercising its legitimate role as a travel agent. This renders Michael O’Leary’s recent public statements, claiming eDreams is ‘unlawfully’ selling Ryanair flights, entirely false, as the binding Supreme Court ruling clearly states that eDreams’ ability to retail Ryanair flights is lawful.
About eDreams ODIGEO
eDreams ODIGEO is the world’s leading travel subscription platform and one of the largest e-commerce businesses in Europe. Under its four leading online travel agency brands – eDreams, GO Voyages, Opodo, Travellink, and the metasearch engine Liligo – it serves more than 21 million customers per year across 44 markets. Listed on the Spanish Stock Market, eDreams ODIGEO works with nearly 700 airlines. The business conceptualised Prime, the first subscription product in the travel sector which has topped 6.2 million members since launching in 2017. The brand offers the best quality products in regular flights, low-cost airlines, hotels, dynamic packages, car rental and travel insurance to make travel easier, more accessible, and better value for consumers across the globe.
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