The war of the airlines has officially taken off, amid accusations, complaints and vitriolic communications. On one side of the ring there is Meridiana Fly-Air Italy and on the other Ryanair, but at the heart of the matter, in a moment that is already very complex in itself for the entire aviation sector, is the entire system of subsidies linked to international routes, but which end up being used also on domestic routes, thus allowing companies such as Ryanair's offer ridiculously low prices compared to those of Meridiana on the Bari-Verona and Bari-Milan Linate routes.
And so Meridiana has decided to give up, starting from mid-September, to operate on these two routes (which represent about 6% of its entire business), but not before having deposited a complaint to the European Commission and publicly accusing Ryanair of unfair competition.
Accusations to which the Irish companion who reacted by pulling out her teeth, with a harsh counterattack in the press: "Ryanair rejects Meridiana's false claims on competition and state subsidies. For too many years Meridiana has robbed Italian passengers with fares more than double those of Ryanair, at the same time incurring enormous commercial losses. Inefficient airlines like Meridiana exist only on subsidies and will never be able to compete with genuinely efficient and low-cost airlines like Ryanair”.
Meridiana's rejoinder was not long in coming, with new accusations against the Irish company, entrusted to a new press release "There are some low-cost airlines which, despite the sanctions imposed by the Antitrust, they continue to promote rates that are two or three times higher at the time of final purchase. Rather, it would be appropriate to ask what Ryanair's rates and bills would be without the contributions it receives in Italy in a non-transparent way from airports and Italian local authorities".
The airline war has just begun and promises to be long and no holds barred. Date and place of landing, at the moment, remain unknown.
