Ryanair boss says Norwegian Air will be the next travel firm to go bust

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary thinks there will be just four airlines left in Europe soon

In the wake of the Thomas Cook collapse, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has said Norwegian Air looks like it will be the next airline to go bust.

Norwegian hit back, saying O'Leary has made the same claim every winter for the past four years and they're still in the air.

A Norwegian spokesman said: “These comments are from the same broken record and have no root in reality.

"Norwegian continues to fly an increasing number of passengers as we continue to focus on building a strong, sustainable and profitable business to benefit our customers, employees and shareholders.”

The Ryanair boss was speaking at a Reuters event, where he said environmental taxes will eventually force more carriers out of business.

"It's going to hasten the consolidation of the industry," O'Leary said.

He added that in the next five years, there will be just "four carriers" dominating Europe - one being Ryanair - with the rest closing or merging with other airlines.

About 15,000 Britons rescued so farLooking at Thomas Cook, O'Leary said Civil Aviation Authority also had a share of the blame.

"How you can licence Thomas Cook in April as fit to fly for another 12 months and then it goes bust in September. (It) is something the CAA needs to address," he said.

"The CAA should be much more aggressive in requiring the shareholders of those companies to put much more cash to get through the year, rather than allowing them to continuously fail."

He added that the package holiday market overall was in trouble, as airlines can now offer cheap fares.

"People under 40 don't book package holidays," O'Leary said.