Ryanair says it plans to cut winter-schedule seating capacity by 40 per cent at its London Stansted airport base, citing fees and British taxes.

Stansted has been Ryanair’s biggest hub, with more passenger traffic than in Dublin, but the airline said it would reduce the number of aircraft based there this winter to 24 from 40 this summer.

Last year it operated 36 aircraft from Stansted during the summer and 28 in the winter.

The airline said it would switch these 16 aircraft to other European states where governments had reduced or removed travel fees or those where no passenger fees applied.