Passengers turn down sunshine break abroad to top up tans at home

Swatch clocks up rise in profits

Ryanair could be forced to sell its entire stake in Aer Lingus after regulators today said the holding could damage competition on fares and routes.

Michael O'Leary, the outspoken Ryanair boss who has harboured dreams of owning Aer Lingus, will be told this week to sell around half of the budget airline's stake in Ireland's national flag carrier.

Ryanair wants to more than double its share of the European short-haul market to 20 per cent in the next five years

Hiking air fares around Christmas helped Ryanair to shrug off rising fuel costs in the last three months of 2012 and saw the budget carrier today raise its profit expectations for the year.

Irish charm

Ryanair's outspoken chief executive, Michael O'Leary, has outlined his plans to dominate European skies and fly 120 million passengers a year as rival airlines go bust and flag carriers cut their short-haul operations to save money.

Low-cost airline Ryanair is to create 1,000 UK jobs next year by flying one million more passengers on a number of new routes.

Stobart Group's new Southend Airport will receive a major boost today when easyJet sets out plans to expand its operations out of the Essex base.

Ryanair Holdings offered concessions to European Union antitrust regulators reviewing its 694 million-euro (£564 million) bid for Irish competitor Aer Lingus.

Aer Lingus cheered as European competition regulators stepped up their investigation into Ryanair's €700m (£556m) hostile takeover bid for its fellow Irish airline, on concerns that the deal may eliminate competition on several routes in Europe.

Aer Lingus yesterday urged its shareholders to reject the €700m (£553m) hostile takeover bid from its low-cost rival Ryanair.

Aer Lingus has urged shareholders to reject budget airline Ryanair's latest €694m (£445m) takeover offer for the airline on the grounds that it "fundamentally undervalues" the business.