RYANAIR has claimed the price cuts introduced last week by Aer Lingus are part of a campaign to put the privately owned carrier out of business. "We were gob smacked when we heard," a Ryanair spokeswoman said. "It was obvious they are trying to break us."
Mr Dan Loughrey, head of corporate affairs at Aer Lingus, said its actions had nothing to do with Ryanair. This was obvious, as the price cuts were not confined to the UK destinations where it competed with Ryanair.
Asked why Aer Lingus had cut prices at the busiest time of the year, Mr Loughrey said they had identified some slackness in demand and, as part of the now commercial ethos of Aer Lingus", had acted to correct it.
Aer Lingus told travel agents last Monday it Was offering return flights to Britain for £50, to continental Europe for £109 and New York for £299. The fares were confined to mid week during July and August. Tickets had to be booked and paid for by last Saturday.
Ryanair immediately responded with a £40 return fare to London. Ryanair's commercial director, Mr Tim Jeans, said. "Even with the benefit of their £175 million state subsidy, Aer Lingus just cannot compete with Ryanair's low fares and widespread seat availability.
"We are always happy to see lower fares and more competition, but this move by Aer Lingus is a panic reaction to their inability to compete with Ryanair."
Ryanair took over 25,000 bookings on July 2nd, the first day of the sale. This was almost double the daily average for the time of year. Asked if this would put a strain on the airline's fleet capacity, the spokesman replied that its peak season capacity was 600,000 and it could cope with the extra bookings.
Travel industry sources have expressed concern at a price war in the peak season. British Midland has also cut its fares between the UK and Ireland. Even at the old fares, it is understood Ryanair was making only a slight profit per passenger.