The company, which holds a dominant position in the market for domestic and European passenger air transport services to and from Italy, implemented an abusive strategy to hinder travel agencies relying on Ryanair flights as an input for tourism services

The Italian Competition Authority has imposed a 255.761.692 euro fine on Ryanair DAC, jointly and severally with its parent company Ryanair Holdings plc, for abuse of a dominant position, which began in April 2023 and continued at least until April 2025. Ryanair holds a dominant position in the upstream market for scheduled passenger air transport services to and from Italy, covering both domestic and European routes, as an input for online (OTAs) and traditional travel agencies. Ryanair’s dominant position stems not only from its sizeable and rapidly growing market shares (38-40% of passengers carried across all routes to and from Italy), but also from a number of other factors. Taken together, these elements give Ryanair significant market power, allowing it to act largely independently of competitors and consumers, as reflected in the clear gap between its performance and that of its main competitors.

Following a complex investigation, the Authority found that Ryanair put in place an elaborate strategy affecting the ability of online and traditional travel agencies to purchase Ryanair flights on ryanair.com. In particular, the company’s strategy blocked, hindered or made such purchases more difficult and/or economically or technically burdensome when combined with flights operated by other carriers and/or other tourism and insurance services.

The investigation revealed that, at the end of 2022, Ryanair began to explore ways to hinder travel agencies. From mid-April 2023, these plans were implemented through measures that intensified over time. At first, Ryanair rolled out facial recognition procedures on its website aimed at users who purchased their ticket through a travel agency. Then, at the end of 2023, when the Authority’s investigation was underway, Ryanair totally or intermittently blocked booking attempts by travel agencies on its website (for example, by blocking payment methods and mass-deleting accounts linked to OTA bookings). In a third phase of its strategy, in early 2024, Ryanair imposed partnership agreements on OTAs and, subsequently, Travel Agent Direct accounts on traditional agencies, containing terms that restricted agencies from offering Ryanair flights in combination with other services. To “persuade” agencies to partner up, Ryanair periodically blocked bookings and launched an aggressive communication campaign against non-signatory OTAs, labelling them “pirate OTAs”. In April 2025, Ryanair made its full white-label iFrame solution available to OTAs. This enabled the integration of IT applications (so-called APIs) which, if properly implemented, make it possible to restore effective competition in the downstream market for tourism services.

Therefore, the Authority concluded that, at least until the integration of APIs, Ryanair’s conduct could and did in fact hinder travel agencies’ sales and affect OTAs’ ability to attract internet traffic. The company’s conduct ultimately prevented agencies from purchasing Ryanair flights in combination with flights operated by other carriers and/or additional tourism services. This weakened competition from agencies, both directly and indirectly, and in turn reduced the quality and range of tourism services available to consumers.

Rome, 23 December 2025

Text of the decision