Courts clip Ryanair's wings

RYANAIR'S plans to rule the skies in Europe has come a cropper as separate court rulings cut down two of its main pillars of expansion.

Just hours after the budget carrier had been told it could no longer call Niederrhein Airport in Germany 'Dusseldorf' - because it is more than 40 miles from the Rhineland city - Ryanair was told subsidies it received for flying to Strasbourg were illegal.

The cheeky Irish carrier has found itself in hot water before on the Continent over the small airfields it flies to, not least Hahn and Charleroi which are dozens of miles from Frankfurt and Brussels, the respective advertised destinations.

Its reversal on Niederrhein comes after pressure from German flag carrier Lufthansa with which Ryanair is in a dogfight for passengers.

Potentially more damaging, however, is the ruling by a French court that the £1 million it got from Strasbourg's local chamber of commerce is illegal. Brit Air, a unit of Air France, brought the case, saying it had been forced to pull its London-Strasbourg service and arguing the subsidy was anti-competitive.

Ryanair's shares slipped 3p to 409p as dealers fretted over further cases.

It is already in the dock over other payments for setting up its first European hub at Brussels-Charleroi, while it is understood a whole host of other destinations it flies to offer similar subsidies.