Scots passengers look set to avoid the worst of Ryanair chaos

0 Ryanair has announced around 2,000 flights will be grounded until the end of October Scottish passengers look set to avoid the brunt of thousands of Ryanair flight cancellations that have been announced for the next six weeks.

A total of 14 services to and from Edinburgh and Glasgow airports are due to be grounded between tomorrow and Sunday.

They come on top of around 15 Scottish flights cancelled since the weekend, including a return flight between Glasgow and Dublin yesterday.

However, after Sunday no further flights north of the Border have been listed among around 2,000 – or up to 50 a day – axed by the airline until the end of next month.

The affected flights include return services between Edinburgh and Barcelona, Bordeaux and Frankfurt Hahn tomorrow.

Also grounded are two Edinburgh-stansted return flights on Friday, one return flight between Glasgow and Carcassonne in southern France on Saturday, and one return Edinburgh-brussels flight on Sunday.

The cancellations have been caused by Ryanair allowing too many pilots to take holidays at the same time.

Chief executive Michael O’leary has pledged to refund affected passengers.

He said: “If they’re not satisfiedwiththealternativeflights offered, they can have a full refund and they will all be entitled to their EU261 compensation entitlements.

“This is our mess-up. When we make a mess in Ryanair, we come out with our hands up.”

However, the airline denied reports that its pilots were considering calling a strike ballot.

A spokesman said: “This is misinformation put out by the Aer Lingus pilots union and there is no truth to it.”

Inverclyde MP Ronnie Cowan said the Commons transport committee would consider a possible investigation into the cancellations.

Mrcowan,whowasappointed to the committee last week, said: “Ryanair passengers will be understandably angry at the airline’s complete messup of their pilot rostering and the subsequent flight cancellations.

“With 400,000 passengers affected, Ryanair has a responsibility to ensure those who have been delayed are appropriately compensated.

“Given the scale of the problem, the transport committee will need to consider if it has any role in further investigating the matter.

“I would hope any consideration on behalf of the committee takes into account customer views and whether Ryanair has done enough to satisfy those that have been unfairly affected.”