“I’m due back in Madrid in two weeks and will probably announce another million seats to be cancelled next summer,” Michael O’Leary told the Financial Times after the Irish carrier’s annual meeting. “If costs in regional Spain are too high, we’ll fly elsewhere. It’s better to fly to places like Palma [de Mallorca] for the same price than to fly to Jerez,” he added.

Ryanair had already announced the cancellation of up to two million seats on flights for next winter and this past summer due to its refusal to pay a 6.5% increase in airport charges imposed by the Spanish state-owned airport operator Aena.

The Irish company asked Aena to cancel the cost increases: "If the Spanish government cannot persuade Aena [to back down], then I have no desire to provide services to them," O'Leary said.

This is the latest conflict between Ryanair and a European airport operator over airport charges, following a previous clash with French authorities earlier this year.

Aena, which claims that the increase in taxes in Spain to be paid by airlines will reach €0.68 per passenger by 2026, accused Ryanair of "extortion" and dishonesty, saying the airline had formally requested to operate more flights than it had threatened to cancel.

Last week, the Spanish airport operator's president, Maurici Lucena, labelled Ryanair "impertinent," saying the airline harboured a "disturbingly plutocratic" view of politics, in which "government decisions should yield to the interests of the most economically powerful companies."

Ryanair currently carries more passengers to and from Spain than any other airline, including the country's flag carrier, Iberia.