63The applicant maintains that the Commission was guilty of a ‘fundamental fallacy’ in considering that, if it can be shown that Ryanair and Aer Lingus are ‘closest competitors’, it ‘automatically’ follows that they are close competitors exercising significant competitive constraints on each other without there being any need to examine the closeness of that competitive relationship. However, Aer Lingus’s range of services is not substitutable for that of Ryanair, but is closer to that of traditional full-service airlines. ‘Significant differences’ between the two companies enable Aer Lingus to charge substantially higher prices than those of Ryanair. The closeness of the competitive relationship between Ryanair and Aer Lingus should therefore be analysed in order to determine its effects on actual competition. If, as the applicant claims, their services are substantially different, Ryanair and Aer Lingus cannot be regarded as ‘adequate substitutes’, even where they are the only two airlines serving a given route. In other words, the passengers concerned may choose not to travel rather than to opt for the other airline.
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