Ryanair warns of flight suspension for weeks or months due to Brexit

Ryanair chief financial officer Neil Sorahan had told the Guardian newspaper that it might be forced to suspend flights for ''weeks or months'' unless the government put contingency plans in place so that it could keep flying between the UK and Europe.

It is feared that the aviation sector may be at a significant risk of disruption.

Ryanair, which operated dozens of services from Liverpool John Lennon Airport, had long warned about what Brexit could mean for its business.

According to commentators the reason was not difficult to understand. Big European manufacturers would look for deals to keep tariffs low on products such as German cars, or French food and wine.

However, in the aviation sector, the likes of Lufthansa and Air France might see an opportunity to damage the low-cost carriers, which had made deep inroads in the markets.

According to analysts, agreements would be reached to keep planes flying.

Airlines in the EU and other countries could fly in and out of each other's territories under a series of agreements, including the EU-US ''Open Skies'' deal. The EU had a Single Aviation Market, which even some non-member countries, including Norway, could access.

When the UK left the EU, it was possible that it would no longer be part of those agreements and would need to negotiate its own separate deals.

According to Ryanair, if no deal on airspace access had been reached by 2019, then it would in theory not be able to fly between the UK and Europe.

The airline had to prepare its schedule many months in advance and wanted the government to end any uncertainty over its plans.

Sorahan told The Guardian, ''Europe has been very clear in recent days that no deals are going to be put in place. They are not planning to put any special deals in place.

 ''If there was a cliff-edge scenario with World Trade Organisation rules and no bilateral (agreement) on open skies in place, there is a distinct possibility  that there will be no flights for a period of time between Europe and the UK.