Following the first round of cancellations the carrier will fly 25 fewer planes through the winter and suspend more than 30 routes with the latest moves affecting around 400,000 passengers. Tony McDonough reports

Ryanair’s cancellation crisis deepened on Wednesday afternoon when it announced the scrapping of a further 18,000 flights from November to March.

It will also fly 25 fewer planes through the winter and suspend more than 30 routes with the latest moves affecting around 400,000 passengers.

A couple of weeks ago the Irish carrier, which flies to more than 30 destinations from Liverpool John Lennon Airport, said it was cancelling 2,000 flights a week until October 31.

Ryanair is suffering a shortage of pilots blaming problems with a new system to allocating leave. Last week it offered bonuses of more than £10,000 to persuade senior pilots to cancel planned leave.

Those passengers affected by the move will be offered alternative flights or full refunds.

They will also be offered vouchers of 40 euro (£35) one way or 80 euros return towards on alternative flights on top of any refund.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said the airline was expecting to pay up to 20m euros in compensation to passengers affected by the cancellations as well as losing 5m euros in lost fares.

However the latest announcement means this figure would be expected to rise significantly.