Court rules Ryanair misled customers

A cologne court has ruled that Ryanair misled customers by advertising its German hub as "Frankfurt-Hahn" airport.

Ryanair was ordered to cease using the name until it clarified in its advertising that the airport was 120 km from Frankfurt. The court ordered the airline to pay the full costs of the case, estimated at €15,000.

German carrier Lufthansa went to court after the Irish airline compared the prices of Ryanair flights to Frankfurt-Hahn airport with Lufthansa flights to Frankfurt International Airport in newspaper advertisements.

The court accepted Lufthansa's arguments that Frankfurt-Hahn airport was 90 minutes by road from Frankfurt in another federal state, had no direct public transport connections to the city and was closer to other cities such as Mainz and Wiesbaden. "Even the average-informed consumer expects an airport to have the name of the nearest city," said the trial judge, Dr Heinz-Georg Schwitzanski, in his verdict.

The court rejected Ryanair's argument that it used the airport's official name in advertising and that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) designated the airport, in aviation terms, part of the greater Frankfurt area in 1998.

The court said the name "Frankfurt-Hahn" was "a purely artificial creation" that existed for economic reasons, "without any historical or geographical basis". Further, Ryanair's advertisements did not contain "even the slightest indication" of the airport's location, which the court ruled was a breach of German consumer law.

Lufthansa welcomed the verdict, saying it showed "black and white" that Ryanair had misled customers. "They were comparing apples with oranges and the court agreed with all of our arguments," said Mr Thomas Jachnow, a spokesman for Lufthansa.

"It's not about Ryanair being the devil from Ireland. It has to do with fair play and fair conduct in advertising."

The German carrier said yesterday that it would not rule out taking action against other airlines advertising flights to Frankfurt-Hahn.

Lufthansa's case coincided with a new push by Ryanair into the German market, with 10 new flights originating at Frankfurt-Hahn airport this year.

Ryanair said in a statement yesterday that it had written to the court to reach agreement on a wording clarifying the airport's location and transport connections to Frankfurt.

Mr Michael O'Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, said that the growing number of passengers using Frankfurt-Hahn airport made it clear "that German consumers are in no way confused as to the location of Frankfurt-Hahn Airport".