CONCERNS have been raised about European-bound Ryanair flights from Southend airport as a schedule for next summer has yet to be released.

The budget airline opened its £225million base at Southend in April this year, introducing routes to popular destinations such as Alicante, Barcelona and Bilbao.

However, fears have been raised by prospective passengers that the airline is having problems as some of its European flights are not available to book.

Kevin Flower, 62, of Leigh, was hoping to book a flight to Alicante, but has found no options available.

He said: “I logged on, as I often do, as I go away to Alicante every summer, and I like to get my flights booked well in advance to get the best times and prices, but on the Ryanair site there’s no option to book onto any of their routes to Europe.

“The only flight I could find was to Dublin.

“They’ve not been trading for very long in the area, and they seemed to be doing really well, so I’m really not sure what’s happening with them.

“It would be a shame if they were to change any routes.”

However a spokesman for Ryanair said there was nothing to worry about and the details of next year’s plans were in the pipeline.

They said: “Our London Southend Summer 2020 schedule is currently being finalised, and will be announced soon.”

Other potential passengers have been asking Ryanair on Twitter if they will be flying to Barcelona and Malaga next year, with the airport not confirming or denying any of the routes.

Meanwhile, Romanian website Boarding Pass is reporting Ryanair is suspending the route between Southend and Cluj Napoca in Romania and will be launching a new route from Stansted Airport.

Ryanair bosses agreed a lucrative five-year deal with Stobart Aviation, owners of the airport, last June.

All being well this could be extended to ten years, with three Ryanair planes now based at Southend and 13 routes from the airport.

The deal was also said to create 750 new jobs.

The Echo reported in July that Stobart Aviation had seen a huge 57 per cent increase in passengers at Southend in April, May and June, thanks in part to the new flights being rolled out by the airline.