A press release from Ryanair inviting journalists to hear about "future legal actions by Ryanair" on 27 July in London turned out to be about the legal challenge by the airline against perceived overcharging by BAA at Stansted Airport.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary played to the crowd, mixing ebullient charm with carefully aimed snipes at both the BAA and CAA, and CAA regulator Dr Harry Bush in particular.
Other legal actions the airline is currently involved in were not mentioned though, such as the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal's hearing over whether the UK Office of Fair Trading was "out of time" when it attempted in Sept' 10 to open an investigation into Ryanair's 2006 acquisition of a minority, non-controlling stake in Aer Lingus.
However judging by Ryanair's use of an image of the Darth Vader villain from Star Wars in its description of BAA and George Lucas' past form in turning to the courts to protect his franchise's US copyright, perhaps Ryanair's lawyers could soon be forced to unsheathe their light sabres against a new enemy?
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