IS THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY A NATURAL MONOPOLY 195 In Ryanair/Aer Lingus III, Ryanair stated that the EU Commission did not demonstrate that the alleged elimination of actual competition between Ryanair and Aer Lingus would harm consumers by charging higher fares or eliminating existing routes. On the routes where there is only one carrier, Ryanair analysis aimed at showing evidence that fares are not higher than on the routes where there are multiple carriers.This analysis was firmly denied by the EUCommission and the ECJ: “In its reasoning, the Commission noted that the barriers to competition and thus the harm to consumers would result from the disappearance of the competitive relationship between Ryanair and Aer Lingus and from the fact that no remaining competitor or potential entrant would be in a position to compete effectively with the merged entity. Aside from the effects on prices, since the entity resulting from the concentration would no longer be subject to the same pressure which previously existed between Ryanair and Air Lingus, the concentration would also have repercussions on the quality of the offer and choice made available to customers”55. Harm to the consumer through price increase is not the only competitive issue; in a broader view, the EU Commission and General Court confirmed that the elimination of competition would reduce the choice of customers and the quality of the remaining offers. 4.4. Free Market versus EU Internal Market Integration The Article 3.1(b) of Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) gives the EU exclusive competence in the “establishing of the competition rules necessary for the functioning of the internal market”, and thus, the internal market and competition rules are from the origin closely linked56. Market integration enables companies to fully benefit from the EU’s Single Market by removing the remaining national and territorial barriers that are protected by the establishment of free and fair competition principles safeguards: “From the very beginning, the EU has had Treaty rules that gave the Commission the power to protect fair, undistorted competition in the 55 Ryanair/Aer Lingus III, para 224. 56 With effect from 1 December 2009, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) has introduced certain changes, such as the replacement of “common market” by “internal market”.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==