Ryanair vows to appeal against Lufthansa aid package

DUBLIN/PARIS (Reuters) – Ryanair will contest a 9 billion-euro ($9.9 billion) German aid package for Lufthansa, the budget airline’s Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said in a statement on Tuesday.

The government-backed aid will allow Lufthansa to “engage in below-cost selling” and make it harder for Ryanair, its Laudamotion subsidiary and rival low-cost carrier easyJet to compete, O’Leary said.

“Ryanair will appeal against this latest example of illegal state aid to Lufthansa, which will massively distort competition,” he added in the statement.

(Reporting by Conor Humphries and Laurence Frost; Editing by Jon Boyle)