AVIATION REGULATOR Cathal Guiomard told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Economic Regulatory Affairs yesterday that his office had recovered €200,000 last year from Ryanair in legal costs for failed challenges by the airline in 2007.

“The Commission is currently in the process of recovering from Ryanair the costs of another abandoned case and an unsuccessful challenge by them heard in 2008,” Mr Guiomard added.

Following the meeting, Mr Guiomard told The Irish Times his office is seeking to recoup more than €500,000 in legal costs from Ryanair relating to these failed legal challenges. The regulator said there were no High Court cases outstanding against his office at present. “We hope that continues,” he said.

Mr Guiomard told the committee his office repatriated more than 1,500 passengers left stranded abroad last year following the collapse of travel companies. “Five travel companies that participate in the bonding scheme operated by the commission closed down in the second half of 2008,” he said.

The regulator processed more than 2,000 claims for compensation in respect of booked flights that did not operate.

“Thus, in a six-month period, the commission had to process more bond-related work than in the previous eight years, and perhaps more than in the entire history of this licensing and bonding regime.” he said. Mr Guiomard said the cost of this work was €3.8 million.

The regulator was asked by Fine Gael TD Leo Varadkar if there was the potential to merge certain functions within his office with other similar bodies to achieve cost savings.

“In principle, there could surely be some centralisation of administrative and back-office facilities,” he said. “We would be open to discussing how that might sit.”