The author speculates on the effect a recent European Commission decision will have on low-fare airline Ryanair. Michael O'Leary, the chief executive of Ryanair, Europe's biggest low-fare airline and the most profitable carrier in the world, claims that a European Commission decision this week spells the end of cheap flights in Europe. But his shareholders do not think so: the firm's share price rose by over 6% on news of the ruling. Nor do Europe's 55 other low-fare carriers. Ray Webster, chief executive of easyJet, Ryanair's big rival, said the commission's decision actually strengthens the industry. Mr O'Leary has given warning for months that the commission's investigation into the incentives his airline gets to use publicly-owned Charleroi airport, in a depressed part of Belgium covered with slag-heaps from old coal mines, was oppressive.In the event, the commission has ruled that only a quarter of the aid, such as discounted landing fees, is against state-aid rules. This means Ryanair has to pay back only about€ 4m ($ 5m) of the€ 15m of subsidy it has received to bring a flood of travellers to Charleroi, boosting the region's economy. But with the threat of subsidies being cut at other airports it serves, Ryanair might drop some of its least profitable routes.