The war between Transport and Ouigo continues. Minister Óscar Puente announced this Monday that his department is studying denouncing the French operator that covers, among other routes, the route between Madrid and Barcelona before the National Markets and Competition Commission for dumping. The continuous price reduction is considered “unfair competition” by the Government. Faced with this possibility, the company owned by SNCF and, therefore, by the French State, defends itself by ensuring that its model seeks to “democratize high speed.”
It is a model, the company responds to the minister, that seeks to make high-speed travel more affordable for the pockets. “In France –defend group sources- it has existed for more than 10 years, where Ouigo has transported more than 100 million travelers.”
They add from the French operator that will celebrate three years in Spain in May: “Our permanent offer of low prices is a characteristic sign of our industrial model, which is based on digitalization and the economy of scale that our double-decker trains allow us. , the ones with the largest capacity on the market, with 509 seats.” Ouigo assures that since it began its operations in the country it has contributed “to sustainable mobility and the structuring of the territory.”
The Government considers, however, that Ouigo can offer lower rates than its competitors because it has the endorsement of the French State, its owner. The company responds like this: “As in any project of these characteristics, it is common in the first years to show losses, but we trust in our model and we expect to obtain profits from 2024.” That is to say, the French operator hopes to close this year in the black. Ouigo lost 36 million in 2022.
Since the entry into service of private competition, high-speed tickets have dropped by 40% compared to the period of Renfe’s monopoly, the CNMC certified. According to the latest data from the regulator, taking the route between Madrid and Barcelona as a reference, the average ticket price during the last quarter of 2023 was 37.43 euros in Ouigo. Renfe, for its part, charged 62.39 euros per trip for its AVE and 43.88 euros for AVLO, the low-cost public company. Iryo, for its part, maintained intermediate rates: 43.10 euros per ticket. Compared to last year’s prices, Renfe lowered its AVE fares by 20%, compared to a reduction of 11.4% by Ouigo.
This fight for practically every high-speed traveler has led Renfe to incur losses over the past year. The public operator expects, however, that rates will rise. Today Minister Puente pointed in the same direction: “Prices are going to rise without fail,” he stated. Cheap tickets “are unsustainable for the three companies,” he added, referring to Renfe, Ouigo and Iryo, partially owned by the public Trenitalia.
Puente has highlighted today that “there is no reciprocity” in France for Renfe, which seeks to reach Paris before the Olympic Games this summer, and which still does not have the necessary permits from the French authorities. The minister recalled that the public operator had to “re-homologize” its trains in the neighboring country despite being manufactured by Alstom and being of French origin.
