The Ryanair-ENAC dispute on the « dear flights » ends up in court: millionaire accusations and requests between CEO and President

The skirmishes between the head of the main low cost of Europe and the number one of the Italian Civil Aviation Authority land in the classrooms of the courts to strokes of compensation from hundreds of thousands of euros. On the one hand there are Pierluigi di Palma and the organ he presides over, the ENAC, who ask Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, overall 160 thousand euros because they believe they are defamed by some attacks on the phenomenon of the dear-Stable who kept the bench in the summer-autumn 2023 He considers condemnable. This is what emerges from the reading of the documents filed in recent days at the Court of Rome and that the Courier he was able to consult.

The origins of the dispute

All begins on 1 July 2023 when the Couriergiven in hand, it says that in the face of a cost of fuel dropped by 45%, the price of air tickets in Italy is increased by almost 50%. A few hours after the guarantor for price surveillance – on the indication of the Minister of Business and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso – convenes in the following days the representatives of the main airlines « They carry out flights in the national sections affected by the major increases. » In August the government inserted a provision to calm air rates on the national sections from/to Sicily and Sardinia.

O’Lary’s words

A move – which then fell into the void – contested by the airlines, questioned by the European Commission and stamped as a « garbage » by the CEO of Ryanair, O’Leary, in an interview without brakes with this newspaper. « ENAC clowns believe that the solution is to put a roof at rates, » he says during the chat with the Courier. «The decree is illegal because the European rules argue that prices are set by the market. And it is not even applicable ».

The request for damage

Words – also repeated in other press events – which are not appreciated by Di Palma and ENAC who ask the Court of Rome, after a failed mediation between the parties, to « ascertain and declare the multiple defamatory conduct of O’Lary and Ryanair » and « condemn the same to the solid payment of the sum of 80 thousand euros in favor of ENAC and 80 thousand euros in favor of the Palma’s lawyer ». in the appeal.

The sums claimed

On November 20, 2024 the judge set the first hearing on April 8, 2025. But on March 18, 2025 the legal team of the low cost is set up in court, asks for the rejection and in addition complains that it is the Irish aviolinea to be defamed by the words of the president of ENAC thus asking to « correspond to Ryanair the sum of 1 million euros, or the different sum of justice, compensation for non -pecuniary damage.

The disputes of the low cost

According to O’Leary L’Enac wrote a report-on the dear flight-« inaccurate » and « not corresponding to the truth », which created « confusion and uncertainty on the market », stigmatizes some declarations attributed to Palma regarding a « oligopoly-like » of Ryanair and that the declarations of the CEO, even if colorful, do not « integrate the extremes of the defamation », Truth, compliance with the public interest and continence ».

The linguistic question

As for the use of some expressions contested by Di Palma and ENAC – as « clown » – « it should be acknowledged of a linguistic gap (…) certain words of the English language, the meaning of which is clear and univocal, can find a translation in Italian that ends up having negative, denigrating and chopping meanings », write the lawyers of the CEO of Ryanair. For the low cost, then, there is no oligopolio because there are no barriers to the entrance and where the carrier has a high market share the prices are among the lowest.

The note of Italian lawyers

The lawyers of ENAC and the president of Palma respond to this position on April 7. They argue – among other things – that Ryanair’s compensation demand « is, primarily, inadmissible », but also « inadmissible by recklessness ». The lawyers speak of a request for compensation « abnormal also in quantification » which highlights « implicitly an intimidating will towards the representative » of the body.

The socio-cultural context

As for the offensiveness of the declarations, O’Leary « used completely inadequate, contemptuous and defamatory tones against ENAC and its president », reads the discussion note. « The meaning attributable by the declarant does not count, but the meaning that can be attributed by the recipient of the declarations according to the common sense, taking into account the socio-cultural context to which these declarations refer ». Translated: « The declarations were addressed to a person and an Italian authority and, in this sense, must be interpreted according to the meaning that it can be attributed to him in the socio-cultural context of reference ».

The hearing in October 2025

The president of Palma, contacted by Courierconfirms the dispute as well as the mediation attempt in the previous months that has not been successful. A lawsuit – he comments on the phone – « that it would have been possible to avoid whether the patron of Ryanair understood that the interlocutions, including critical ones, with the authority of the civil aviation of a country like Italy cannot cross the necessary forms of institutional and personal respect ». Ryanair was contacted for a comment. The appointment, for the conclusion of the story, is postponed to the hearing of 28 October 2025.