Swedish state sues Ryanair
Irish low-cost airline Ryanair is being sued by the Swedish government, after refusing to pay an administration fee which the state says it is obliged to pay.
Ryanair is one of the airlines contracted by Sweden to fly government employees on overseas trips from Stockholm.
When the government put its travel arrangements out to tender, it stipulated that airlines would pay one percent of the price of every ticket back to the state as an administration charge, reports Dagens Nyheter.
The airline has not yet signed a contract, although state employees have already started using its services. The government argues that in the meantime Ryanair is bound by the conditions laid out when it put the contract out to tender.
But Ryanair says that it will not pay the charge, and says it never agreed to the conditions. Now the state is suing the company in Stockholm City Court for 1.5 million kronor, which it says it lost due to Ryanair’s refusal to pay.
Karl Högstadius, deputy managing director of Ryanair Nordic, told DN that the airline had received a pledge over the phone from the Swedish Armed Forces, who were handling the tender process on behalf of the state, that the administrative charge would be waived.
Lisbeth Johnson, in charge of tenders at the Swedish Armed Forces, says that Ryanair was never told that it would be let off the fee.
“Ryanair said in its offer that it would abide by all the conditions set out in the invitation to tender and because of this we decided that their tender gave the best value for money,” she said.
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Ryanair is one of the airlines contracted by Sweden to fly government employees on overseas trips from Stockholm.
When the government put its travel arrangements out to tender, it stipulated that airlines would pay one percent of the price of every ticket back to the state as an administration charge, reports Dagens Nyheter.
The airline has not yet signed a contract, although state employees have already started using its services. The government argues that in the meantime Ryanair is bound by the conditions laid out when it put the contract out to tender.
But Ryanair says that it will not pay the charge, and says it never agreed to the conditions. Now the state is suing the company in Stockholm City Court for 1.5 million kronor, which it says it lost due to Ryanair’s refusal to pay.
Karl Högstadius, deputy managing director of Ryanair Nordic, told DN that the airline had received a pledge over the phone from the Swedish Armed Forces, who were handling the tender process on behalf of the state, that the administrative charge would be waived.
Lisbeth Johnson, in charge of tenders at the Swedish Armed Forces, says that Ryanair was never told that it would be let off the fee.
“Ryanair said in its offer that it would abide by all the conditions set out in the invitation to tender and because of this we decided that their tender gave the best value for money,” she said.
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