Ryanair offers to settle over Sarkozy, Bruni ad

Irish airline Ryanair said today that it was willing to make 5,000 euros ($7,435) charitable donations for both French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his friend Carla Bruni over an advertisement featuring her daydreaming about a wedding.

The airline said its lawyers would tell the French courts it was happy to settle Sarkozy's claim for one euro in damages with a similar offer for Bruni.

As a token of its regret, the airline said it was offering to make the donations to any charity Sarkozy or Bruni wanted.

"Ryanair will not however agree to any totally unjustified payment of 500,000 euros to Ms Bruni, who has engaged in an open, widely publicised and internationally reported relationship with President Sarkozy," the airline said.

The advertisement at the centre of the legal dispute, which ran in Le Parisien newspaper on Monday, features a photo of the smiling pair in an advertisement for cut-price tickets.

Ryanair spokesman Peter Sherrard said the airline apologised immediately to Sarkozy and Bruni after the newspaper ad ran. On Wednesday Sarkozy and Bruni's lawyer, Thierry Herzog, were quoted in French newspapers as saying Bruni's fame as a former supermodel-turned popstar meant she could command large sums for advertising, adding that a photo of her costs 500,000 euros.

Sarkozy recently made the front pages of newspapers and celebrity magazines when he announced his relationship with the Italian-born Bruni whom he met just a few weeks after separating from his second wife, Cecilia.

Sarkozy hinted at a news conference earlier this month that he would marry Bruni and added that the media would probably find out about it after the event.