Ryanair has no new plans at this stage for Ireland as it adds 500 flights at Stansted Airport

The extra flights will give Ryanair an additional 100,000 seats during the British mid-term school holidays to mainland European destinations 

Passengers queuing  board Ryanair planes at Stansted Airport; Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said both the carrier and Stansted have sufficient staff to handle the extra flights.

Ryanair has no new plans to increase flights out of Ireland this autumn as it boosts flights at Stansted following a move by Heathrow to extend its capacity cap on services through October.

Ryanair is adding 500 flights to its autumn schedule from its main British base at Stansted airport, it said. 

The extra flights will give Ryanair an additional 100,000 seats during the British mid-term school holidays to destinations including Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Greece. 

Heathrow earlier this week said a daily limit of 100,000 departing passengers will now apply until the end of October as the UK’s biggest hub contends with a prolonged staff shortages at ground-handling firms. 

'Hopeless' Heathrow

Describing Heathrow as “hopeless”, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said both the carrier and Stansted have sufficient staff to handle the extra flights.

Amid the Stansted development, a Ryanair spokesman said the airline has no current plans to extend its flights out of Ireland this autumn beyond what it has already announced.         

In June, the airline said it would add seven new routes from Dublin and Cork airports for its winter schedule. 

Dublin airport will have new flights to Castellón, Genoa, Klagenfurt, Rome, Rovaniemi, and Venice. Cork will see the addition of a route to Newcastle.

The airline said at the time that it would have a total of 156 routes operating from airports in the Republic for the autumn and winter. 

The airline said it would have a total of 2,500 routes across Europe this winter. 

• Additional reporting Bloomberg