EUR 60,001 is Lost in France As Ryanair Pays the Sarkozys

THERE was no sign of the ever-present Michael OLeary yesterday when Ryanair was forced to fork out sixty-thousand euro plus one.

The no-holds-barred airline boss discovered to his cost that the French president and his gorgeous new wife are no push-overs, like Bertie Ahern.

The Taoiseach just grinned and bore it when the airline used his mug to promote its low-cost fares but Frances Mr Sarkozy shouted: Non.

He and his new bride Carla Bruni sued the company over an advert which showed the Italian-born beauty saying: With Ryanair, all my family can attend my wedding.

The ad appeared in France before the couples wedding on Saturday.

And when it came to sharing out the spoils there was no contest. Miss Bruni, a former model, was awarded EUR 60,000 after claiming that her normal professional fee for appearing in an advert would be EUR 500,000.

The president known as Mr Punch was awarded the symbolic single euro he had sought. His wifes lawyers had accused Ryanair of harming her image as a model, composer and singer of talent.

The glamorous couple had filed separate lawsuits that were heard together in a court session in Paris, seeking damages for the airlines use of the image for commercial purposes without permission.

Ryanair was also ordered to have the court ruling printed in Le Parisien newspaper, where the advert originally appeared. But bullish Ryanair chiefs said the case had been settled satisfactorily and offered to give another EUR 60,000 to a charity of Mr Sarkozys choice in light of the worldwide publicity generated by this single advert.

Ryanair said late last month that it had sent a written apology to the president with a promise not to publish the ad again and an offer to donate EUR 5,000 to his favourite charity.

It made a similar offer to Bruni a symbolic euro, and EUR 5,000 to charity but rejected her claim for EUR 500,000 as totally unjustified.

And no sooner had the row in France ended than a new one was brewing in Italy.

In Naples, Ryanair is telling potential punters they can escape the rubbish piling up in the streets by flying out. Above a photograph of piles of trash sacks an image that has come to symbolise Naples in recent months where the waste disposal system has ground to a halt an advert reads: Pay the taxes! Not for waste (disposal) but to escape.

Playing on public outrage at the waste emergency and the fact that locals continue to pay a refuse tax even when their streets are shoulder-high in garbage, the airline offers 250,000 free flights where the customer only pays airport taxes. But like the French President and his wife, the city of Naples is not amused.

The only rubbish to beescaped from is Ryanairs advertising, said Marco di Lello, head of tourism at the regional government of Campania of which Naples is the capital.

I am disgusted at this exploitation by an airline which has never even flown to Naples, he said.

It has been a bad week so far for Ryanair. Earlier, it warned that the industry has been struck by a perfect storm of gloomy news.

As the Easter holiday season looms, the budget carrier said dearer oil, lower demand for tickets, higher costs and weaker sterling will hit profits.

Mr OLeary gave the warning after announcing worse than expected third quarter results which, excluding the sale of five aircraft, saw a 27 per cent fall in net profits.

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