Ryanair may stop flights to and from UK in 'worst-case scenario' if Brexit uncertainty continues

Admittedly, this is a last resort and worst-case scenario, but the low-cost Irish airline is very concerned about the impact on its operations in Britain once it leaves the EU.

The oft-quoted uncertainty around the divorce has led to the carrier shrinking its growth forecast for the UK market for 2017 from an initial 15% down to 6% - a drastic drop which the firm says is 'inevitable'.

“Unavoidably, Brexit will cause a fall in growth,” said Ryanair's financial director Neil Sorahan.

“We haven't seen it yet, but we believe it will generate a slowdown in economic growth both in the UK and the EU, since both parties will have to face up to a completely new scenario.”

The airline has been pushing the British government for greater clarity on its negotiating strategies with the remaining EU-27 over the two years up to the 'Brexit' deadline.

Companies do not have two years to sit around and wait – especially airlines, since the majority schedule their flights 12 years in advance, so Ryanair is one of many which will have to work out its plan of action by March 2018 at the latest.

So if there is no concrete plan by then, Ryanair flights to and from the UK may have to stop 'for a while'.

“We're diverting our growth away from the UK,” said Sorahan during a presentation in London of Ryanair's new customer service programme, 'Always Improving'.

Set up four years ago to tackle what was then its weakest area, the new, friendly and much more flexible attitude has led to an upturn in profits.

Anecdotal evidence claimed Ryanair lost tens of millions of euros when passengers began to decide almost en masse that they would rather pay more to travel with another carrier and get better service.

Now, Ryanair's hand-luggage allowance is one of the most generous for a budget airline, allowing a standard cabin bag plus a smaller 'personal' bag of 20 x 20 x 35 centimetres, meaning passengers can generally pack enough for a couple of weeks away without having to check in a suitcase.

The airline has once again become popular with British expats, who know they will not be compromising on service by paying some of the lowest fares.

And they may still be able to do so in spite of Brexit, but Ryanair needs to decide quickly what to do.

Flights within the EU enjoy a so-called 'open skies' scenario where permits are not needed to cross between member States, but post-Brexit, the UK government will have to negotiate bilateral agreements which could be bureaucratic, costly and pose restrictions.

Ryanair's internal UK flights will also be affected – as an Irish company operating in another EU country, it does not need a special licence to run intra-national routes, which for the Irish carrier make up around 2% of the total.

Sorahan says Ryanair will decide within the next year whether or not to request a permit from the UK government or simply stop running most or all of its national flights.

At present, international flights to and from the UK with Ryanair are affected mostly by the uncertainty surrounding the future, since if answers are not given by next March, it may have no option but to ground these routes until it knows what is going to happen.