London’s Southend airport have announced they are offering free flights to those who have been displaced by Ryanair’s announcement that they are cancelling 50 flights per day for the next six weeks.

The flights will be offered on a first come first served basis to those who have had their flights cancelled.

The giveaway includes 100 return tickets to make up for the hassle and disappointment many Ryanair customers are facing.

Glyn Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Stobart Aviation, owners of London Southend Airport said: “The free return tickets is a simple gesture, an invitation if you like, to try us instead of the airports hit by the Ryanair cancellations.

“We are confident we can offer a far better passenger experience – the proof being that we have been rated Best Airport in London five years running by Which?

“Tens of thousands of people will have had their holiday plans disrupted and clearly feel they’ve been left in limbo not knowing if they are travelling or not, or can even be sure their inbound flight won’t be cancelled. Our free tickets will hopefully cheer up some people. After all, we’re in the business of making people happy.”

The tickets are to and from the airline’s hub in Dublin and they are extending the free ticket offer to Glasgow and Manchester.

This will be a welcome relief for the hundreds of thousands of displaced passengers who have had to change their travel plans.

Ryanair’s marketing director, Kenny Jacobs said the reason for the cancellations is that their punctuality has slipped from nine out of ten to eight out of ten in the last fortnight.

The reason for this is because of a mess up in the planning of pilot holidays.

Kenny continued: "We will cancel 40 to 50 flights daily for the next six weeks, (less than 2% of our schedule) with a slightly higher number this weekend as we begin to implement these cancellations.

“Flights are operating as scheduled unless an email confirming a cancellation has been received. We advise customers to check the email address used to make their booking. Cancellation notices for flights cancelled up to and including Wednesday 20 Sept have been sent to affected customers and we will continue to send regular updates and post flight information on our website.

“We apologise to all affected customers for these cancellations. We have messed up in the planning of pilot holidays and we're working hard to fix that."

Yesterday, the Daily Star Online revealed how you can get compensation if you are one of the customers affected by these cancellations.