SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
 

Washington, D.C. 20549
 


FORM 6-K
 


Report of Foreign Private Issuer
 


Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
 


For the month of  October 2008
 
 

RYANAIR HOLDINGS PLC
(Translation of registrant's name into English)
 
 

c/o Ryanair Ltd Corporate Head Office
Dublin Airport
County Dublin Ireland
(Address of principal executive offices)
 
 
 
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual
reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
 
 
Form 20-F..X.. Form 40-F.....
 
 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information
contained in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to the
Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934.
 
 
Yes ..... No ..X..
 
 

If "Yes" is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the registrant
in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 82- ________
 
 
 

 


RYANAIR
 
LAUNCHES
 
STATE
 AID COMPLAINT AGAINST LATEST 
UNLAWFUL ALITALIA BAILOUT

Ryanair, Europe's largest low fares airline, today (
Thursday, 
2
nd
 
October, 2008
) 
announced that it 
had submitted a 
formal
 complaint
 to the EU Commission
 regarding the latest 
unlawful
 bailout of the 
failed
 Italian national carrier, Alitalia. 
 

Ryanair's action comes after the 
Italian Government announced that it had reached agreement with Alitalia
's
 unions regarding an offer made by a consortium of Italian investors (CAI). The deal calls for another 
farcical
 renaming of Alitalia and wri
ting off between €1.2 and €2bln
 worth of 
its 
debt in 
order to secure investors
.  

Ryanair has
 previously submitted several complaints against Alitalia and other flag carrier airlines, including Olympic, Air France and Lufthansa, against which the EU Commission has taken no action.  
Ryanair highlighted that t
his ongoing unlawful protection of flag carriers by their member state governments, which amount
s
 to billions of euro, increasingly make
s
 a mockery of the EU Commission's enforcement of the state aid rules.

Announcing 
the complaint
,
 
Ryanair's 
Director of Legal and
 Regulatory Affairs, 
Jim Callaghan, 
said:

"
This is 
the latest and perhaps most blatant example of the Italian Government doing whatever it takes to protect their failed airline, Alitalia
.  
It is also the second time that they have used the trick of simply shifting debt out of the airline and into a subsidiary in order to keep the airline afloat. In this instance, the Italian government is writing off 
up to €2bln. in Alitalia debts and is guaranteeing the investments by the members of the consortium and underwriting huge concessions to the unions in exchange for their agre
ement to these ludicrous plans.

"However, despite the blatant nature of the Italian Government's breaches of the EU state aid rules, we have no doubt that the EU Commission will again rubber stamp this unl
awful bailout, as they did
 3 years ago and 
more recently
 in a similar case involving Olympic. In such case, Ryanair will appeal this decision to the European courts to expose the corrupt and biased application by the Commissi
on of its own state aid rules.

"Ryanair has already been forced to take 
several cases
 against the Commission for its failure to take action against other blatant breaches of the state aid rules by member state governments to protect and bail out their inefficient flag carriers. These repeated failures by the Commission are 
contributing to 
a 
massively distorted playing field
 in European aviation
.

"Ryanair will continue to expose the biased and corrupt application of the state aid rules by the 
European 
Commission to ensure that economically and environmentally unsustainable airlines like Alitalia and Olympic Airways are forced to exit the market - which is what is supp
osed to happen in a free market
"
.

 
Ends.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
                                                                                         
Thursday, 2
nd
 
October 2008


For further information:

Stephen McNamara 
    
    
    
    
    
    
Pauline McAlester
Ryanair
    
    
    
    
    
    
                    
Murray Consultants
Tel: 00 353 1 812 1271
    
    
    
    
    
Tel: 00 353 1 4980 300


 

SIGNATURES
 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, hereunto duly authorized.
 
 

 

RYANAIR HOLDINGS PLC




Date:  02 October 2008
 

 

By:___/s/ James Callaghan____
   
 

James Callaghan
 

Company Secretary & Finance Director