Ryanair Holdings plc (Ryanair) has launched an appeal against the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) decision to review Ryanair’s 2006 acquisition of a 29.82 per cent minority stake in Aer Lingus Group plc (Aer Lingus). Ryanair claims that the OFT’s investigation is now time barred. However, the OFT had concluded that it still has jurisdiction to review the merger as it could not review the merger earlier due to the operation of the EC Merger Regulation. On 14 January 2011, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) published an Order setting out the timetable for the proceedings. The CAT has exercised its discretion to set swift timetables (as it has previously done in merger cases), and has set the date for the hearing for 10 March 2011. The CAT has also granted Aer Lingus permission to intervene in the case.