RYANAIR, the Irish airline, has completed its takeover of rival Buzz without waiting for clearance from regulators.

The deal, which Ryanair wanted to conclude by April 1, was postponed last month because the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) had yet to rule.

But with Buzz’s operations, which are suspended, due to re-start on May 1, Ryanair felt it could not wait longer to complete the takeover.

Ryanair said: “This is entirely due to the very tight schedule that Ryanair and KLM (Buzz’s owner) have adhered to in order to complete this rescue of Buzz and save 130 jobs.”

Although the OFT cannot stop the Buzz takeover, it could recommend an investigation by the Competition Commission into whether the deal was anti-competitive.

Under the terms of the deal, completed yesterday, Ryanair paid KLM a reduced price of €20.1 million (£13.8 million) for the main assets of Buzz. The original price was €23.9 million.

The deal transfers 130 employees and ten aircraft to Ryanair, where they will trade as Buzz Stansted Ltd. Unlike Ryanair, which is regulated in Dublin, Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority will oversee Buzz.

After Ryanair’s announcement that it was to postpone the deal, the OFT said it was working to a 45-day timetable to complete its assessment and pass on any recommendations to Patricia Hewitt, the Trade Secretary.

The target of 45 working days applies in cases where the OFT has initiated the investigation. However, the process could have been speeded up had the company made a formal merger submission to the OFT.

Ryanair said yesterday that more than 100,000 passengers had already reserved seats for May on the 12 former Buzz routes, which include Düsseldorf, Berlin, Frankfurt and Toulouse.

Ryanair said the low purchase price was the result of a decision by KLM to retain Buzz assets that originally were going to be sold. In particular, the Dutch airline will hold on to Buzz’s headquarters building at Stansted airport.

Only about 130 of Buzz’s 600 staff are being taken on by Ryanair. Michael O’Leary, chief executive, had angered union representatives at Buzz with his hardline, take-it-or-leave-it negotiating style over pay and conditions changes.