The authority considered that the advertisement was misleading

Advertising Standards Authority

The ruling by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority, which upheld complaints about the carrier's autumn offer of cheap tickets for "every seat on every flight", came amidst growing controversy over its ads in Germany.

On Wednesday, Ryanair filed a second complaint to the European Competition Commissioner, Mario Monti, about the German flagship carrier Lufthansa's efforts to block Ryanair's advertising in Germany.

Lufthansa recently won a temporary injunction from a German court to bar Ryanair from some of its advertising practices.

"It seems the complaint concerns regulations for adverts in Germany and therefore seems rather a case for German courts than the European Commission (EC)," an EC source told Reuters, dismissing Ryanair's complaint.

Small print

The UK's advertising watchdog upheld a complaint from a customer who found that, in fact, the cheap tickets which were promoted in Ryanair's email and regional press adverts were only sold for midweek flights.

"The authority considered that the advertisement was misleading and asked the advertisers to ensure future advertisements made clear in the main body that seats were available at the quoted prices for flights on Tuesdays to Thursdays only," the watchdog said in its adjudication.

The newspaper advertisement, which featured a one-way flight to London Stansted for �19.99, and another to Paris for �29.99, had added in small print that the offer was limited for midweek flights.

The advertising watchdog also upheld a separate complaint about cheap flight offers sent via email.

Easyjet soars

Low-cost airlines had a bumper autumn, gaining business as most leading airlines retrenched in the wake of 11 September.

Ryanair's competitor, Easyjet, on Tuesday reported a 36.5% rise in passenger numbers in December 2001 compared with a year earlier.

The airline carried 670,390 passengers during the month.

"In terms of passenger numbers both Easyjet and Ryanair have reported consistently robust volumes in recent months," Goldman Sachs analysts Hugo Scott-Gall and Christopher Logan said.

"Only the average fare is being pressurised, though we believe that a flat year in current conditions is a very respectable performance."

Easyjet said it aims to buy up to 75 new aircraft over the next five years to build on its recent success.

The additional aircraft would further boost the carrier's capacity which has already risen 25% in a year.