Ryanair Holdings Plc, a discount airline that was prevented from buying rival Aer Lingus, said on July 10 that it will take to court European Union competition authorities over their alleged failure to enforce competition rules fairly.

Ryanair said it would take the EU to court because it has refused to act on at least four complaints filed by the Dublin-based carrier since 2005 involving Lufthansa, Air France, Alitalia and Olympic Airlines of Greece.

Ryanair accused France of offering illegal subsidies to Air France's base airports worth one billion euros (US$1.35 billion) over the past seven years. The company also said Germany was being permitted to run up annual losses exceeding 50 million euros at a state-owned Munich airport "on a new terminal built exclusively for Lufthansa."

The Irish airline also chided EU authorities for permitting Italy to offer billions in bailout money for Alitalia, which is expected to be put up for sale soon. It said the EU should have ordered Greece to reclaim "the multi-millions in illegal state aid granted to Olympic."

"Ryanair is confident that the European Court will take the (European) Commission to task for their failure to fairly enforce the state-aid rules against national governments, who continue to protect their inefficient flag carrier airlines," said Jim O'Callaghan, Ryanair's director of regulatory affairs. O'Callaghan declined to specify when Ryanair intended to begin legal action.