Ryanair and Booking.com reach tickets deal after long legal dispute

DUBLIN, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Ryanair RYA.I has struck a deal with Booking Holdings BKNG.O to let its Booking.com and KAYAK websites resell the airline's tickets, the companies said on Tuesday, ending their years-long legal dispute.

Ryanair has in recent years launched a series of legal actions against third-party booking platforms that resell its tickets without agreement, including Booking. It has accused them of adding additional charges and making it difficult for the airline to contact passengers.

Since the start of last year, it has also signed agreements with platforms, including Kiwi.com and Expedia, to allow the resale of tickets.

A joint statement by Ryanair and Booking said the deal would provide "full price transparency" and allow customers to receive essential flight updates directly.

The agreement also relates to Booking's Priceline and Agoda websites, the statement added.

Ryanair said the partnership concludes all open litigation.

The parties had been seeking a ruling from a U.S. court on the legality of Booking websites scraping Ryanair's site. The case was brought initially by Ryanair in 2020, but has been subject to a series of appeals.

A number of online travel agents suddenly stopped selling Ryanair flights in December 2023 following legal and regulatory pressure.

The loss of that sales channel contributed to a fall in average fares of around 10% over the two summer quarters last year, but the airline has since said the issue has largely been resolved.