Flybe won’t face action over Gatwick – Newquay predatory pricing claim
07.11.10
Flybe has been told there is ‘insufficient evidence to proceed’ with claims made by rival Air Southwest of predatory pricing. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) had been looking into claims made in 2009 by Air Southwest that Flybe's launch of a Newquay to Gatwick route amounted to predation, aimed at ‘driving Air Southwest out of either the Plymouth to Newquay to Gatwick route or at eliminating Air Southwest as a competitor at Plymouth Airport more widely’.
Following assessment of the evidence, the OFT said that it considers it does not have sufficient evidence to proceed against Flybe. It has issued a ‘no grounds for action’ decision, and a spokesman said: ‘The OFT considers that Flybe is not dominant on a relevant market covering the Newquay to Gatwick route. There is an a absence of evidence that Flybe's entry on to the Newquay to Gatwick route marked a departure from normal, albeit robust, competition in the particular circumstances of this case. There is also an absence of sufficient evidence that Flybe's intentions were predatory and not part of a normal, albeit robust, competitive strategy.’
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