Ryanair chief executive Mr Michael O'Leary said today the EU Commission would likely require the no-frills airline to shorten its lease at Belgium's Charleroi airport.
"The only thing the Commission will change will be some details designed to appease high-fare airlines, like deals can only be five years not 15 years," he told reporters.
Ryanair is the subject of a Commission inquiry into whether the Irish-based airline received unfair Belgian state subsidies at its Charleroi hub, a city about 40 kilometres south of Brussels.
The EU has banned most state aid to airlines since the early 1990s to help create a more competitive, deregulated market in which European no-frills airlines such as Ryanair and easyJet have thrived in recent years.
Mr O'Leary repeated that the airline would appeal the Commission's decision if it ruled against Ryanair. "If there is anything that is affecting our cost base in Charleroi, we are heading to court, but I don't think it will come to that," he said.
Ryanair has raised the hackles of longer-established airlines throughout Europe as it has bargained for better deals from regional airports that are prepared to spend money to attract the business and holiday traffic the airline can bring.
The airline pulled its London-to-Strasbourg service after a court banned a subsidy it said Ryanair was receiving from the local chamber of commerce.
Mr O'Leary was dismissive of complaints from Belgian-based budget rival Virgin Express - received by the Commission today - that Ryanair received an unfair subsidy from state-owned Charleroi.
"I try not to react to attacks from Virgin because it's a bit like being savaged by a dead sheep," he said. Virgin Express had the opportunity to fly out of Charleroi on the same terms as Ryanair but chose to operate from Brussels's more central Zaventem airport instead, Mr O'Leary said.