Key events

Italy antitrust regulator fines Ryanair €235m over dealings with travel agencies

From cars to planes! Ryanair has been fined €235m (£205m) by Italy’s competition authority for abusing its dominant position in its dealings with travel agents.

The Italian Competition Authority imposed the penalty after concluding that Ryanair had executed an “elaborate strategy” to block online and traditional travel agencies from purchasing Ryanair flights on ryanair.com, or to make it harder.

This, it says, weakened competition from agencies and reduced the quality and range of tourism services available to consumers.

The ICA says:

The investigation revealed that, at the end of 2022, Ryanair began to explore ways to hinder travel agencies. From mid-April 2023, these plans were implemented through measures that intensified over time. At first, Ryanair rolled out facial recognition procedures on its website aimed at users who purchased their ticket through a travel agency.

Then, at the end of 2023, when the Authority’s investigation was underway, Ryanair totally or intermittently blocked booking attempts by travel agencies on its website (for example, by blocking payment methods and mass-deleting accounts linked to OTA bookings). In a third phase of its strategy, in early 2024, Ryanair imposed partnership agreements on OTAs and, subsequently, Travel Agent Direct accounts on traditional agencies, containing terms that restricted agencies from offering Ryanair flights in combination with other services.

To “persuade” agencies to partner up, Ryanair periodically blocked bookings and launched an aggressive communication campaign against non-signatory OTAs, labelling them “pirate OTAs”. In April 2025, Ryanair made its full white-label iFrame solution available to OTAs. This enabled the integration of IT applications (so-called APIs) which, if properly implemented, make it possible to restore effective competition in the downstream market for tourism services.

New car sales in Europe rise for fifth month in a row

Overall, new car registrations in the EU increased by 1.4% year-on-year in November, the fifth monthly rise in a row.

A chart showing European new car sales Illustration: ACEA

ACEA reports:

Despite the recent positive momentum, overall volumes remain well below pre-pandemic levels. The battery-electric car market share reached 16.9% YTD, in line with projections for the year, yet a level that still leaves room for growth to stay on track with the transition.

Hybrid-electric vehicles lead as the most popular power type choice among buyers, with plug-in hybrids continuing to gain momentum.

That transition hit a diversion this month, when Brussels scrapped its landmark 2035 ban on combustion engines and brought in new flexibilities to allow carmakers to hit 2030 carbon emission targets.

Tesla’s sales didn’t fall everywhere last month, though.

The Norwegian market was a bright spot – Tesla’s sales in Norway rose 34.6% in November year-to-date, led by the mass market crossover Model Y.

That means Tesla has sold more cars in Norway in 2025 than any other automaker ever did in a full year, beating the country’s annual sales record with one month to spare according to the Norwegian Road Federation.

Introduction: Tesla’s European sales fall again

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.

Sales of Tesla’s electric cars fell across Europe again last month, as the company’s annus horribilis continued.

European auto lobby ACEA is reporting this morning that Tesla registrations tumbled by 34.2% in the European Union year-on-year in November, and fell by 11.8% across the wider EU, Britain and European Free Trade Association area.

Tesla sold 12,130 cars across the EU last month, down from 18,430 in November 2024, shrinking its market share from 2.1% to 1.4%.

Tesla’s sales have fallen across Europe this month, amid a consumer backlash to Elon Musk’s political activism in the Donald Trump White House before the pair fell out.

It has also faced increased competition from rivals including China’s BYD, who had a strong November. BYD grew its sales in the EU, EFTA and UK by 221%, up from 6,568 to 21,133 units.

BYD is one of several Chinese carmakers using the transition to electric cars as an opportunity to dominate the global automotive market, backed by Beijing and regional governments.

And while Tesla struggled, the overall electric car market grew. In the first 11 months of 2025, battery-electric cars accounted for 16.9% of the EU market share, an increase from the low baseline of 13.4% in January-November 2024.