Ryanair to cancel ‘most if not all’ flights

Ryanair has announced it may suspend all flights except those providing "essential connectivity", due to the coronavirus.

More than four out of five flights will be cancelled between Thursday and March 24.

After that period "we expect that most if not all Ryanair Group flights will be grounded", the airline said.

An exception will be "a very small number of flights to maintain essential connectivity, mostly between the UK and Ireland".

Ryanair said details of the severely reduced schedule can be found on the travel advisory page on the Ryanair.com website.

All airlines have slashed their flights in recent days due to travel restrictions and a collapse in demand caused by the spread of the coronavirus.

Trade body the Airport Operators Association (AOA) has warned that airports will shut down "within weeks" without Government intervention.

On Tuesday, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that a package of measures would be agreed to alleviate the impact of Covid-19 on aviation.