Booking.com secures appeal win against Ryanair

Online travel agent (OTA) Booking.com has secured a "decisive" win against Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) after a US Court of Appeals overturned 2024 verdicts that the OTA violated two counts of the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). It is one of a string of unrelated decisions affecting the low-cost carrier in recent days.

Judge William Bryson ruled on January 22 that Ryanair failed to prove that Booking had caused it losses of at least USD5,000 (the minimum amount for a finding of civil liability under the CFAA). The judge also dismissed a fraud claim, saying Ryanair had not proved the OTA had procured more than USD5,000 in benefits by selling its tickets.

In July, ch-aviation reported on Ryanair's win in the US courts against Booking Holdings and subsidiaries Booking.com, Kayak Software Corporation, Priceline.com, and Agoda Company. The jury unanimously concluded that the OTAs violated the CFAA, causing losses to Ryanair, and it also rejected Booking's counterclaims against the airline. However, Ryanair only narrowly prevailed, with the judge dismissing the case against four of the five defendants and the jury awarding it the statutory minimum of USD5,000. Last week, Bryson reversed that monetary award.

In the same week, on the other side of the Atlantic, Aer Lingus (EI, Dublin International) confirmed to The Irish Times that it had dropped its opposition to Ryanair's plans to build a EUR40 million euro (USD42 million) maintenance hangar at Dublin Airport. Aer Lingus had claimed that building Hangar 7 would have interfered with its use of its own leased facility, the adjoining Hangar 6.

"Following a period of uncertainty, Aer Lingus has now made significant progress in discussions with Dublin Airport on a workable solution for operations at the adjacent Hangar 6,” an Aer Lingus statement on the matter reads. “We will now work constructively with Dublin Airport in order to formalise that solution.”

Aer Lingus had secured leave to appeal the build from the Irish planning authority, Bord Pleanála, an outcome Ryanair called a delaying tactic. The newspaper says a formal agreement between the parties has yet to be reached, but there is a high level of confidence that the dispute will be amicably resolved.

Separately, Ryanair is set to close its base at Billund, Denmark's second-largest airport, according to local news outlets. The move is reportedly connected to a decision by Danish authorities to impose an air travel tax on passengers, undermining Ryanair's low-cost model. The new tax for short-haul flights is around DKK30 kroner (USD4.20) per passenger. Ryanair is also reportedly concerned about rising infrastructure costs at the airport.

Ryanair bases two aircraft at Billund and the base's closure will result in around 60 job losses. According to the ch-aviation schedules module, the carrier flies to Alicante, Barcelona El Prat, Budapest, Gdansk, Kraków John Paul II International, London Stansted, Malaga, Malta International, Manchester International, Milan Bergamo, and Vienna from Billund. Currently, most of Ryanair's services at the airport rely on aircraft operated by subsidiary Malta Air.