Latvian Regulator Fines Airport for Ryanair Price Discount

Latvia’s Competition Council fined the Riga International Airport 50,000 lati ($95,111) for giving a discount for services to Ryanair Holdings Plc (RYA), it said in a statement.

Ryanair received a lower price for use of the airport’s services than for state-owned airline AirBaltic AS for “no objective reason” from November 2009 until the end of 2010, the competition council said in the statement on its Website today.

AirBaltic paid about 82 percent more for services including baggage handling, stairs for entering and exiting airplanes, and the towing of airplanes on the runway, compared with Ryanair, the statement said. Ryanair was also exempt from paying for administration costs at the airport, according to the competition council.

To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Eglitis in Riga at aeglitis@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net