The regulator alleges that Ryanair intentionally made it difficult, expensive, or technically impossible for travel agencies to book flights on behalf of customers. By blocking access to its website or imposing restrictive partnership agreements, the airline reportedly prevented these agencies from combining Ryanair flights with other services, such as hotels, car rentals, or connecting flights from different carriers.
However, the Italian regulator isn’t buying it. They argue that Ryanair’s dominance in the Italian sky (dwarfing national carrier ITA, which holds just under 10% market share) gives it a responsibility to play fair.
This isn’t Ryanair’s first rodeo with Italian authorities. In 2019, they were fined €3 million over their cabin baggage policy (though that was later overturned). This new €255 million penalty, however, is on a completely different scale. It follows a similar aggressive stance taken by Italy against tech giant Apple, which was fined €98 million just a day earlier for mobile app market abuses.
It seems Italy is drawing a line in the sand: being the biggest player in the room doesn’t mean you get to write all the rules.
At the center of this legal battle is the modern traveler. On one side, there is the backpacker who is happy to jump through every hoop Ryanair sets just to get a €19 fare. On the other, there is the family traveler or the business flyer who values the protection and convenience of a travel agent who can handle their entire itinerary in one place.
