Ryanair yesterday lost its High Court challenge to the introduction of new charges at Dublin Airport by Aer Rianta.

Mr Justice Butler said the imposition of the charges was a commercial decision involving a commercial relationship.

After the judgment, Ryanair said it would be appealing the decision to the European courts. The private airline said the case involved a critical issue affecting the costs of air travel for European and Irish customers. Ryanair also claimed the High Court decision allowed the "Aer Rianta monopoly" to increase further and without any restriction on the "already high" charges on airport facilities.

The charges in the proceedings involved: a check-in desk rental of £12,000 (€15,240) a year, together with supplemental rates for additional usage; "administration charges" intended to defray Aer Rianta's costs in implementing EU groundhandling regulations; meter car charges for groundhandlers; and a cargo handling charge. Ryanair had claimed the proposed charges were in excess of Aer Rianta's powers because they had been levied without the consent of the Minister for Finance, the sole shareholder in Aer Rianta.

Mr Justice Butler rejected Ryanair's claim that a statutory authority such as Aer Rianta, when purporting to impose charges or exact payments in connection with its functions, must have express statutory authority to do so. It was clear within the confines of the legislation governing the operations of Aer Rianta that the airport company was obliged to act as a commercial company and therefore had an obligation to charge for the use of its assets and services, the judge said. He accepted Aer Rianta's contention that the charges in dispute were not "airport charges" within the meaning of the Air Navigation and Transport (Amendment) Act 1939.

In another dispute involving the same two companies, Mr Justice Butler refused to grant an interlocutory injunction to Ryanair, compelling Aer Rianta to supply Ryanair with access to priority overnight aircraft parking stands at Dublin Airport pending the hearing of Ryanair's action against Aer Rianta.

Counsel for Ryanair had alleged the dispute involved unfair and unequal treatment by Aer Rianta between Ryanair and Aer Lingus. Ryanair had sought to restrain Aer Rianta from acting in breach of an alleged 1998 agreement between the two companies.

Mr Justice Butler said that, while there had been extensive argument on whether there was an agreement and whether Aer Rianta had breached any such agreement, he was satisfied there was a fair issue to be tried between the parties at the hearing of the main action. Ryanair had produced no evidence to back its argument that it was suffering "massive disruptions", he added.

On the contrary, Aer Rianta had submitted, and Ryanair had not denied, that only 13 out of 3,450 flights had been affected by the alleged disruptions. He was satisfied the balance of convenience lay with Aer Rianta and he refused the injunction.