Spain has fined five budget airlines €179m (£149m) for “abusive practices,” including charging extra for hand luggage.
Ryanair has been fined almost €108m (£90m), – the largest of the fines – while IAG’s Vueling was issued a €39m (£32m) penalty on Friday.
The Spanish Ministry of Consumer Affairs issued sanctions against airlines that had made “very serious” violations of consumer regulations.
It said that alongside the fines, practises including charging extra for hand luggage and reserving adjacent seats for children would now be prohibited.
Low-cost easyJet received a fine of €29m (£24m), while Norwegian Airlines and Spanish company Volotea were fined €1.6m (£1.3m) and €1.2m (£1m) respectively.
Pablo Bustinduy, minister of social rights, consumption and agenda, added that fines first announced in May would be upheld after rejecting appeals launched by the carriers.
The €179m (£150m) fine is the biggest sanction issued by the ministry following an investigation into practices in the low-cost airline industry.
Sanctioned airlines were also found to not allow cash payment at Spanish airports and lacked price clarity on their websites, said the Spanish body.
Irish carrier Ryanair was additionally singled out for their controversial check-in charge – charging passengers a “disproportionate amount” to print their boarding pass at the terminal.
The ministry said that the sanctions were calculated based on the “illicit benefits” obtained by the airlines from the offending practices.
Ryanair, easyJet and Norwegian said that they had filed administrative appeals against the fines.
Michael O’Leary, Ryanair CEO, called the fines “illegal” and “baseless”.
He said: “These illegal and baseless fines, have been invented by Spain’s Consumer Affairs Ministry for political reasons, are clearly in breach of EU law. Ryanair has for many years used bag fees and airport check-in fees to change passenger behaviour and we pass on these cost savings in the form of lower fares to consumers.
“Today’s illegal fines in Spain are in breach of EU law (Reg 1008/2008) and will be overturned by the EU Courts, which have repeatedly defended the right of all EU airlines to set prices and policies, free from Government interference.”
The Spanish Airlines Association (ALA) called the…
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