'NO-FRILLS' airline Ryanair has warned that cheap fares are at risk if the European Commission today rules against it in a row over airport subsidies.
The European Commission's decision is likely to have far-reaching consequences for cheap air travel to Europe.
It will decide whether the Dublin-based airline has to pay back millions of pounds in subsidies it was given by Charleroi airport in Belgium.
The Commission has been investigating whether such aid can be allowed to continue when it only applies to one airline and therefore gives Ryanair an unfair advantage over rivals.
Discounts
Last September Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary suspended his flights from London Stansted to Strasbourg in France after a French court backed an Air France complaint that the company's deal with the local airport amounted to illegal state aid.
Ryanair has warned that a similar decision at EU level concerning Charleroi would hit at consumers enjoying cheap flights elsewhere in Europe too. If, as is likely, the discounts on landing rights are declared illegal, the company will have to repay millions of pounds.
Estimates put the penalty at nearly £3 million, about half the aid agreed from Charleroi for the airline.
Pat Cox, the Irish president of the European Parliament, said : "I have written to the European Commission asking for reassurances that an assessment has been made of the possible knock-on effects and implications that a precedent set by this particular case might have."
