Ryanair is suing the German traffic controller DFS Aviation Services GmbH demanding half a million euros to be paid back to the Irish airline for – from their point of view – unlawfully levied landing and takeoff charges. The trial will take place on Tuesday, 19 September.
It can be assumed that experts have coached the judges of the Darmstadt Administrative Court in Hesse State, Germany in recent weeks to navigate them through tricky technical, financial and
operational issues common in commercial aviation. The judges are in an unenviable position since they have to decide if CEO Michael O’Leary and his low cost carrier’s claim is justified to get
landing fee expenditures back which the DFS demanded from them 5 years ago as compensation for knowingly and continuously abusing landing fees. The German traffic controllers hold that the budget
airline notified airports and authorities that each of their Boeing 737-800s lands and departs with a registered takeoff weight (MTOW) of 66,990 kilograms, citing a so-called minimum flex weight
standing in U.S. aircraft producer Boeing’s flight manual.
This went well for a couple of years.
Serious weight differences
However, in 2012, the German aviation regulator LBA sent watchdogs to the airports of Frankfurt-Hahn and Bremen where some of Ryanair operated 737-800s are constantly based. The inspectors found
out that the MTOW is much higher than officially declared by Ryanair (IATA-Code: FR).
Exactly eight tons per aircraft.
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) in their documentation confirms this weight gap, speaking of an MTOW of 74,990 kilograms, applicable for each of the carrier’s more than 400 B737-800s. The IAA
is the competent licensing authority for the Ireland-registered and Dublin-based budget carrier.
FR paid under protest
Since the level of takeoff and landing fees payable to airports and authorities is calculated on the declared MTOW of an aircraft, the weight difference of eight tons per flight in favor of
Ryanair constitutes a major financial benefit for the carrier, easing its cost situation and improving the competitiveness.
With reference to the weight controls in Bremen and Frankfurt-Hahn and to the data displayed in the IAA documents, the DFS management decided in 2012 to send Ryanair a bill amounting to 500,000
euros as compensation for falsely declared takeoff weights over a longer period.
The Irish carrier paid, but only under protest.
Ryanair, still convinced that they have acted correctly, recalling Boeing’s flight documents, has now decided to bring their DFS dispute over MTOWs of their uniform Boeing 737-800 fleet to the
competent court in Darmstadt, Hesse State.
More proceedings are to come
The judgement could set a precedent for other cases to come. According to information obtained by CargoForwarder Global there is a similar court case pending in a western European country. Should
the Darmstadt judges rule in favor of the airline, the DFS will not only have to pay back to Ryanair the half million euros received already but could be confronted by the carrier with high
compensation claims. These result from MTOW calculations based on 74,990 kilograms, takeoff fees levied by the DFS for all FR flights to and from German airports since 2012.
Conversely, in case the court decides against Ryanair, an outcome expected by most experts, it could have a role model effect for other courts in countries served by the Irish low cost airline
when dealing with the same topic.
Therefore, the judges will decide on Tuesday if Michael O’Leary is getting the money back paid to the DFS – or rather not.
Heiner Siegmund