A dozen Edinburgh flights among thousands cancelled by Ryanair

Ryanair flights between the Capital and several European destinations have been cancelled.

Flights between the Capital and Barcelona, Bordeaux and Frankfurt Hahn have been cut on Thursday and two services to and from Stanstead have been cancelled on Friday.

And on Sunday the troubled airline has scrapped flights to and from Brussels Charleroi.

The cancellations come on top of around 15 Scottish flights cut since the weekend.

However, after Sunday no further flights north of the Border have been listed among around 2,000 – or up to 50 a day – axed by the airline until the end of next month.

The cancellations have been caused by Ryanair allowing too many pilots to take holidays at the same time.

Chief executive Michael O’Leary has pledged to refund affected passengers.

He said: “If they’re not satisfied with the alternative flights offered, they can have a full refund and they will all be entitled to their compensation.

“This is our mess-up. When we make a mess in Ryanair, we come out with our hands up.”

However, the airline denied reports that its pilots were considering calling a strike ballot.

A spokesman said: “This is misinformation put out by the Aer Lingus pilots’ union and there is no truth to it.”

Inverclyde MP Ronnie Cowan said the Commons transport committee would consider a possible investigation into the cancellations.

Mr Cowan, who was appointed to the committee last week, said: “Ryanair passengers will be understandably angry at the airline’s complete mess-up of their pilot rostering and the subsequent flight cancellations.

“With 400,000 passengers affected, Ryanair has a responsibility to ensure those who have been delayed are appropriately compensated.

“Given the scale of the  problem, the transport committee will need to consider if it has any role in further investigating the matter.

“The committee will come to a view about this at a later stage, but I would hope any consideration on behalf of the committee takes into account customer views and whether Ryanair has done enough to satisfy those that have been unfairly affected.”

Aviation minister Lord  Callanan said he is “very concerned” by the Dublin-based carrier’s cancellations.

He went on: “We expect all airlines to fulfil their obligations to their customers and do everything possible to notify them well in advance of any disruption to their journey.”

Rory Boland, travel editor of consumer group Which?, said the airline must arrange alternative flights or provide a full refund.