Ryanair accuses EU of attack on British airlines ahead of delisting

RYANAIR will delist its shares from the London Stock Exchange next month to comply with Brussels rules it said were aimed at undermining Britain’s aviation sector.

The airline confirmed plans to leave the LSE on Dec 20 after consulting with shareholders last month.

Michael O’leary, chief executive of the Irish airline, has said that the EU rules will favour French and German carriers and punish British operators such as easyjet and IAG, which owns British Airways.

“There is going to be a real push, particularly, I think, by the French or the Germans as part of the kind of post-brexit fraught relationships,” he said earlier this month. “Lufthansa and Air France see this as a real opportunity to break up IAG and create difficulties for easyjet, Wizz and others.”

Airlines based in the European Union must be owned and controlled within the bloc. Ryanair’s primary listing is in Dublin.

About a fifth of Ryanair shares are owned through UK institutions, compared to about a third owned from EU member states.

This number must be above 50pc and delisting in London will force those managers into buying those shares on the Irish Stock Exchange.

The rules were introduced a decade ago to protect Europe’s airline industry.

A Ryanair spokesman said: “As indicated at our interim results, and following subsequent shareholder engagement, Ryanair has decided to request the cancellation of London listing. The volume of trading of the shares on the London Stock Exchange does not justify the costs related to such listing and admission to trading, and so as to consolidate trading liquidity to one regulated market for the benefit of all shareholders.”

Earlier this month Ryanair delivered its first quarterly profit since the pandemic struck, although it also warned investors it would post an annual loss of up to €200m (£168m). It plans to cut ticket prices to fill seats over the quieter winter months.

The airline carried 39m passengers in the six months to the end of September, down 54pc on the same period last year. It expects to become profitable again for the year ending March 2023.

Shares fell 2.5pc in Dublin, trimming its gains this year to 3.2pc and valuing Europe’s biggest low-cost airline at €17.8bn.