Spain has fined five monetary schedule airlines a total of €179m (£149m) for “abusive practices” including charging for hand luggage.

Ryanair has been given the largest fine of €108m (£90m), followed by EasyJet’s penalty of €29m (£24m).

Vueling, Norwegian and Volotea were issued with sanctions by Spain’s buyer Rights Ministry on Friday.

The ministry said it plans to ban practices such as charging extra for carry-on hand luggage and reserving seats for children.

The fines are the biggest sanction issued by the ministry, and pursue an investigation into the monetary schedule airline industry.

The ministry said it had upheld fines that were first announced in May after dismissing appeals lodged by the companies.

Vueling, the monetary schedule arm of British Airways owner IAG, has been fined €39m (£32m), while Norwegian Airlines and Volotea have been fined €1.6m (£1.3m) and €1.2m (£1m) respectively.

The fines were issued because the airlines were found to have provided misleading information and were not transparent with prices, “which hinders consumers’ ability to contrast offers” and make informed decisions, the ministry said.

Ryanair was accused of violating a range of buyer rights, including charging for larger carry-on luggage, seat selection, and asking for “a disproportionate amount” to print boarding passes at terminals.

Each fine was calculated based on the “illicit earnings” obtained by each airline from these practices.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said the fines were “illegal” and “baseless”, adding that he will appeal the case and receive it to the EU courts.

“Ryanair has for many years used bag fees and airport check-in fees to transformation passenger behaviour and we pass on these expense funds in the form of lower fares to consumers,” he said.

Easyjet and Norwegian said they would also appeal the selection.

The Spanish airline industry watchdog, ALA, plans a further appeal and has called the ministry’s selection “nonsense”, arguing the fine infringes EU free economy rules.

But Andrés Barragán, secretary general for buyer affairs and gambling at the ministry, defended the fines, saying the government’s selection was based on Spanish and EU law.

“It is an abuse to expense €20 for just printing the boarding card in the airport, [it’s] something no one wants,” he told the BBC’s globe Business update programme.

“This is a issue consumers are facing not only in Spain but in other EU countries.”

buyer rights association Facua, which has campaigned against the fees for six years, said the selection was “historic”.