Easyjet and Ryanair must apply French employment laws to staff operating from the country after a court threw out an attempt by the two budget airlines to bypass local rules.

The airlines were appealing against legislation introduced last year compelling foreign airlines to apply French employment laws for crews of aircraft based at the country’s airports.

Ryanair, based in Ireland, argued that the rule breached European laws on the free movement of workers.

But France's Conseil d'Etat dismissed the claim and ordered both airlines to pay €2,500 legal costs, the court said in a statement today.

Ryanair immediately said that it would take further legal action and that it had asked the European Commission to launch an official infringement procedure against France over what the airline calls an “unlawful decree”.

In a statement it said: “this decree is illegal under European law and was clearly designed to stop efficient low fares airlines, like Ryanair, from setting up bases in France.”

Easyjet said it would not appeal the decision.

Richard Martin, an employment partner at Speechly Bircham, said: “This will be seen as French protectionism towards its employee-friendly labour laws but in reality a similar view would be taken by English courts over the application of certain fundamentals of our own employment laws for flight crews operating out of the UK.”

Andreas White, an associate at Kingsley Napley, said that although it is often difficult for employers with international, mobile workforces to know which employment rights apply in different circumstances, a French-based cabin crew “will have a much greater connection with France than with airline headquarters in the UK or Ireland and so the French court's decision is hardly surprising.”

Mr White added that the House of Lords recently considered a similar case (involving a Cathay Pacific pilot based out of Heathrow) and reached a similar conclusion.

Earlier this week Ryanair lambasted the European Commission for double standards as it launched a landmark legal action to try to force it to investigate allegations of illegal state aid.

Ryanair, still stinging from its failed bid for Aer Lingus, its Irish rival, said that after "repeated failure" by the Commission to probe claims involving Air France, Lufthansa, Alitalia and Olympic Airways, it was resorting to the European Courts in a bid to kick-start the investigative process.

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