According to OTB, Ryanair does not welcome these enhanced consumer experiences, taking the view that they represent signifcant and unwanted competition with the airline. As a result, so OTB asserts, Ryanair has engaged in a strategy of disruption to online travel agencies’ business models. It is in this context that OTB invites the court to see Ryanair’s litigation against multiple online travel agencies and their service providers in the Republic of Ireland and elsewhere in the EU. In parallel with this litigation, OTB alleges that Ryanair has adopted a multi-faceted course of conduct aimed at preventing competition from online travel agencies, including OTB; a course of conduct that constantly evolves over time and has encompassed the use of the pandemic to further Ryanair’s goal of driving online travel agencies from the market. That course of conduct (described by OTB as ‘the Campaign’) is said to be unlawful because it is anti-competitive. The Campaign is said by OTB to comprise the following: (1) Ryanair makes false and disparaging claims about OTB. OTB assert that Ryanair has repeatedly and publicly (including through media briefngs and press releases, social media, customer emails and its website) made claims about online travel agencies, including OTB, that are disparaging and untrue (generally, or at least as far as OTB is concerned), including: (a) that OTB provides “fake information” about its customers to Ryanair, including ‘fake email addresses’. (b) that OTB’s alleged use of ‘fake’ email addresses prevents Ryanair from providing OTB Customers with important information related to their fights.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==