A Spanish court has told Ryanair it must immediately halt denigrating online travel agent EDreams ODIGEO.
The pre-trial order was made by the Barcelona Commercial Court based on evidence provided by EDreams that Ryanair has ‘engaged in a long-term smear campaign’ against the OTA and its Prime programme.
EDreams claimed Ryanair has made ‘multiple false claims’ to mislead consumers and compete unfairly.
In a statement, it said: “The Court has acknowledged the urgent need to approve the measures due to Ryanair’s ongoing denigrating statements against eDreams and its products.
“The judge has determined that Ryanair’s lies against eDreams and eDreams Prime are a ‘perfectly organised campaign designed to promote Ryanair.com for booking flights and associated services’.
“According to this ruling, this campaign is denigrating advertising as it gives consumers false information about eDreams and eDreams Prime.”
The Spanish Supreme Court had already ordered Ryanair to halt its denigration tactics and anti-competitive behaviour towards eDreams ODIGEO in an earlier hearing, said the OTA.
EDreams claimed that Ryanair had targeted multiple other online travel agents with a ‘defamation strategy’ to coerce them into signing ‘anti-competitive and anti-consumer’ distribution agreements.
In the past few months, several OTAs have signed distribution agreements with Ryanair, including On the Beach, Loveholidays and Kiwi.com. It recently also signed a deal with TUI.
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The pre-trial order was made by the Barcelona Commercial Court based on evidence provided by EDreams that Ryanair has ‘engaged in a long-term smear campaign’ against the OTA and its Prime programme.
EDreams claimed Ryanair has made ‘multiple false claims’ to mislead consumers and compete unfairly.
In a statement, it said: “The Court has acknowledged the urgent need to approve the measures due to Ryanair’s ongoing denigrating statements against eDreams and its products.
“The judge has determined that Ryanair’s lies against eDreams and eDreams Prime are a ‘perfectly organised campaign designed to promote Ryanair.com for booking flights and associated services’.
“According to this ruling, this campaign is denigrating advertising as it gives consumers false information about eDreams and eDreams Prime.”
The Spanish Supreme Court had already ordered Ryanair to halt its denigration tactics and anti-competitive behaviour towards eDreams ODIGEO in an earlier hearing, said the OTA.
EDreams claimed that Ryanair had targeted multiple other online travel agents with a ‘defamation strategy’ to coerce them into signing ‘anti-competitive and anti-consumer’ distribution agreements.
In the past few months, several OTAs have signed distribution agreements with Ryanair, including On the Beach, Loveholidays and Kiwi.com. It recently also signed a deal with TUI.
The post Court orders Ryanair to stop smear campaign ahead of full hearing appeared first on Travel Gossip.
Continue reading...
