SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 6-K
Report of Foreign Private Issuer
Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
For the month of May, 2008
RYANAIR HOLDINGS PLC
(Translation of registrant's name into English)
c/o Ryanair Ltd Corporate Head Office
Dublin Airport
County Dublin Ireland
(Address of principal executive offices)
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual
reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
Form 20-F..X.. Form 40-F.....
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information
contained in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to the
Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934.
Yes ..... No ..X..
If "Yes" is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the registrant
in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 82- ________
HIGH COURT FORCES AVIATION REGULATOR TO CLARIFY DECISION ON DAA CAPEX
APPEALS PANEL MUST NOW
REVIEW
ABUSIVE
€1.2BLN. CAPEX PLAN
Ryanair,
Ireland
's largest airline
,
today (
Tuesday
,
2
0
th
May
2007)
welcomed the High Court's decision on its appeal of the Commission for
Aviation Regulation's (CAR's) Interim Determination
o
n
airport charges
at Dublin Airport
. The Court found that there was "clear ambiguity" in the CAR's determination and
that Ryanair was justified in bringing the claim.
The Court
ordered
the CAR to clarify its treatment of €1.2bln. worth of capex in its interim
review and the CAR has now confirmed that this figure has been included in the
regulated asset base (RAB), which will lead to a doubling of passenger charges at
Dublin Airport.
The Court also found that the Minister for Transport was wrong in not allowing
Ryanair to appeal the inclusion of
this
€1.2 bln.
Ryanair is therefore
again
calling o
n the Minister to establish an Appeals P
anel with a view to removing this
abusive spending
from the RAB
.
Ryanair will be highlighting to the Appeals Panel the fact that the DAA airport
monopoly has consistently ignored the reasonable requirements of users and is
providing massively over specified and
costly
facilities
in order to
inflate passenger charges. The UK authorities have recognised that this form
of RAB based regulation is seriously flawed and Ryanair is
therefore
re
issuing its
call on the Minister to
sack the regulator and
introduce competition at Dublin Airport.
Speaking today
following the High Court's decision
Ryanair
's Jim Callaghan
said:
"
We welcome the High Court's finding that the CAR made a mess of the interim
determination and was forced to clarify it. Although the Court did not overturn the
decision, the Judge clarified that Ryanair is entitled to appeal the substance of
the decision before an Appeals Panel established by the Minister for Transport
.
We are therefore calling on the Minister to establish this panel in order
to re
move
the wasteful spending that the CAR allowed into the RAB.
The CAR's bungled decision, which has now been "clarified" demonstrates the
serious flaws in this form of regulation, where an abusive monopoly is allowed to
recover from airport users for what is clearly massively wasteful spending. Even
the CAR confirmed that DAA's planned Terminal 2 was at least 50% too large and yet
he allowed them to recover on the vast majority of th
is
expenditure.
It is high time that the Minister for Transport abandons this failed regulatory
system and allows for competition at Dublin Airport. Regulation
has been
an abject failure, it's time to allow competition to reduce prices and
improve services at Dublin Airport."
Ends.
Tuesday
,
2
0
th
May
2007
For reference:
Pauline McAlester - Murray Consultants
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has
duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, hereunto duly
authorized.
RYANAIR HOLDINGS PLC
Date: 20 May 2008
By:___/s/ James Callaghan____
James Callaghan
Company Secretary & Finance Director