Ryanair is "overcharging" customers by more than £5 per return flight, according to easyJet, the Irish budget carrier’s biggest rival - which has made the claims on the same day that the Office of Fair Trading said it was investigating alleged price fixing related to fuel surcharges at British Airways and other airlines.

Figures revealed by easyJet to Times Online Travel this week show that while easyJet’s “insurance and wheelchair costs” come to £1.52 per passenger per return flight, Ryanair’s comes to £6.96 — almost 80 per cent more.

EasyJet says Ryanair is sneakily using its “insurance and wheelchair levy” to bring in extra revenue to cover recent hikes in fuel costs.

A spokesman said: “It is so hypocritical. Ryanair attacks airlines such as British Airways for having a fuel surcharge, yet it appears to be introducing fuel surcharges through the back door.

“It’s a con. Insurance prices across the industry have gone down in recent years, yet Ryanair has charged customers more.” He pointed out that if Ryanair charged customers what easyJet does for insurance and wheelchair cover, it would lose more than £100 million a year. “That’s more than half Ryanair’s annual profit.”

When asked by Times Online Travel, Ryanair refused to comment on why its charges are so much higher.

However, a spokesman said: “EasyJet charged each passenger last year £14 more per ticket than Ryanair, thereby overcharging their passengers by £413 million.”

The average Ryanair one-way fare last year was £28, while easyJet’s was £42.

A spokesman for the Air Transport Users’ Council, the country’s main airline watchdog, said: “This basically goes to show that airlines can put whatever they want in separate charges that are not in headline fares. It is misleading the public.”

Responding to Ryanair’s price comments, an easyJet spokesman said: “Unlike Ryanair, we include all charges in our headline prices. We also don’t fly to places in the middle of nowhere that you can’t spell. We fly to main airports like Charles de Gaulle. That’s why prices are slightly higher.”

Details: Air Transport Users’ Council (020-7240 6061, www.caa.co.uk/auc).

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