Ryanair cancels thousands of flights to Portugal and almost a million customers are affected

Ryanair has cancelled around 5,000 flights to the Portugese capital Lisbon after being forced to cut the number of aircraft in the city.

The Irish airline has said that it has cut the number of aircraft from seven to four.

It means that around 900,000 customers will be impacted by the loss of flights and have their trips to Lisbon cancelled, including those flying from Birmingham Airport.

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In all 19 routes have been affected by the cuts after the airline and Lisbon Airport got into a row about Covid restrictions .

Ryanair has apologised for the cancellations and its CEO has issued a statement in reply to the cancellations.

The airline's boss Michael O'Leary said: "The loss of these 19 Lisbon routes and 5000 flights this summer, means that Lisbon’s post-Covid recovery will now lag behind other major EU capital cities.

"Ryanair remains committed to returning these three aircraft and 19 routes to Lisbon in October for its winter schedule when we will resume driving traffic, tourism and jobs recovery in Lisbon.

"All passengers affected by these summer 2022 cancellations will receive email notifications later this week offering them full refunds or alternative flights to/from Lisbon for summer 2022."

The Lisbon route that have disappeared for summer 2022:

• Agadir
• Alghero
• Alicante
• Bari
• Billund
• Birmingham
• Bournemouth
• Baden-Baden

• Lanzarote
• Madrid
• Malta
• Memmingen
• Oujda
• Palermo
• Perpignan
• Poitiers
• Tenerife
• Wroclaw
• Zaragoza

Ryanair made good of its threat to cut the routes due to a dispute with Portuguese carrier TAP over unused slots at Lisbon Airport.

The airline has estimated its decision will cost the Portuguese economy over €250m in lost tourism revenues.

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