Ryanair said today it had filed legal action against the French government over what it said was an unlawful labour decree recently adopted in the country.
The airline said the decree tried to force foreign airlines to apply French labour laws when basing aircraft in France and contravened European laws on the free movement of labour and services.
"This decree is contrary to the European free market for airline services and is a clear attempt to protect Air France from competition," Ryanair said in a statement.
The decree was designed to discourage foreign airlines from establishing a base of operations in France, it said.
Ryanair said in May it would open its sixteenth European base in the southern French city of Marseille, basing 2 aircraft there.
Ryanair said it had also filed a complaint with the European Commission calling on it to overturn the decree. The French government was not immediately available to comment on the move by Ryanair.