Ryanair has taken aim at a number of online travel agencies for abruptly removing its flights from their networks.
The airline claimed that bigger websites including Kiwi, Booking.com, and Kayak abruptly stopped offering its flights in December.
It follows an Irish High Court decision that forbade screenscraper Flightbox from collecting flight data for Ryanair for online travel agencies.
According to Ryanair, the removal of flights from the websites will result in 1% or 2% more empty seats in December and January.
Although ticket sales might also be impacted, it stated that the change was not expected to “materially affect” its full-year passenger projections or profit margins.
The budget airline promised to react by cutting prices for customers who make direct reservations on its website.
“Pirates”
Ryanair referred to the online agents as “pirates” in a statement. It stated that it would “continue to make its fares available to honest/transparent online travel agents such as Google Flights,” stating that they “do not add hidden mark ups to Ryanair prices and who direct passengers to make their bookings directly on the Ryanair.com website” .
Ryanair stated that new client verification procedures it has implemented or pressure from national consumer protection organizations may have contributed to the “welcome removal” of its flights.
After the airline filed a lawsuit in the US against Booking Holdings, the firm that owns Booking.com, and its subsidiaries, Kayak, Agoda, and Priceline, the company and online booking sites have been embroiled in a protracted legal battle.
Ryanair further stated that in reaction to a recent Irish High Court decision against screenscraper Flightbox, its flights might have been removed from the sites.
The airline was awarded a permanent injunction by the court, which prevented Flightbox from “unlawfully scraping Ryanair.com content” for online travel agencies, which is the practice of gathering data and information from websites.
The company that runs Booking.com, Kayak, and Kiwi.com, Booking Holdings, stated that it would not remark on the ongoing legal battle in the US between Booking.com and Ryanair.
The dispute comes after the airline raised fares in November and saw a spike in profits.
Despite a 24% increase in average costs, the airline reported that passenger numbers increased by 11% to a record 105.4 million in the six months ending in September.
This enabled the carrier to post a nearly 60% increase in profits to €2.18 billion (£1.9 billion) during that time. Due to the high demand for summer travel, Ryanair had to raise fares; as a result, the airline claimed a rise in profits.
In a statement on Wednesday, the airline stated that in December, there were on average 9% more empty seats per flight than there were in December of 8%.
Ryanair reported that, despite more than 900 flights being canceled because of the Gaza conflict, it carried 12.5 million passengers in December, a 9% increase over the same month in 2022.