Pressure grows in Ryanair to release full list of cancelled flights

"In terms of lost profitability, we think it will cost us something of the order of up to about five million euro (£4.4 million) over the next six weeks and in terms of the EU261 compensation we think that will be something up to a maximum of 20 million euro, but much depends on how numerous alternative flights our customers take up".

For example, if you have had to wait an extra day to take the new flight you should be given accommodation, food, drink and access to communications - such as the cost of a couple of telephone calls.

Since 2013, the airline has become far more engaging on social media and produced a simplified website.

A "slightly higher number" of flights were cancelled this weekend, and it will bring in additional standby aircraft to help restore punctuality, it said.

If the current pattern continues then an average of three flights a day to and from Scottish airports could be affected.

Another passenger, Lizzie Gayton, said she had to spend nearly £700 to get home on Sunday after her flight from Lisbon to London Stansted was cancelled with less than 48 hours' notice.

On Saturday, the airline released a list of all of the flights that have been cancelled until Wednesday September 20. Chief Marketing Officer Kenny Jacobs said the company would provide updates, but as of Monday, there were only details on cancelled flights through Wednesday.

Earlier this afternoon, Michael O'Leary stated that the current cancellations of Ryanair flights across Europe was "a mess of our own making" as thousands of people have seen their travel plans thrown into chaos. "Apologies for any inconvenience".

"It's also essential that Ryanair release a full list of flights that will be affected so that passengers have as much time as possible to make alternate arrangements".

"We give pilots 6 weeks of leave a year, with 4 weeks in one block; we simply do not have enough pilots in September and October to allocate this amount of leave".

Ryanair is changing its holiday year, which now runs from April to March, to run from January to December instead. The company says the move shouldn't impact earnings in September and October.

It cites air traffic control delays and strikes, weather disruption and increased holiday allocation to pilots and cabin crew, as the reason for the deterioration in flight punctuality.

The cancellations are likely to affect 30,000 passengers, according to a report.

It said that Ryanair has requested pilots to work during their "leave" period, but this appears to contradict the airline's claim that difficulties are being caused by pilots having to take leave before the year's end.