Ryanair will return to flying from today, offering over 1,000 daily flights across Europe.

The decision marks the end of a 14-week shutdown of operations in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The low-cost carrier will offer departures to 200 European airports, restoring almost 90 per cent of its pre-Covid-19 route network, albeit with lower frequencies.

In line with the recommendations of EASA and the ECDC, Ryanair has introduced new health measures for both crews and passengers, which the carrier says will minimise the risk of Covid-19 on flights.

These include mandatory face masks, fewer checked bags, cashless in-flight services and improved hygiene procedures.

Ryanair Group chief executive, Michael O’Leary, said: “We have been back flying approximately 250 flights daily for the last ten days of June to bring our aircraft, our crews and our maintenance teams back into service.

“Starting today, we are operating 1,000 daily flights across our entire European network, which is approximately 40 per cent of our normal July capacity.”

He added: “These 1,000 daily flights mark an important turning point for Ryanair and for the tourism industry of Europe, which supports so many jobs and small businesses.

“We, together with our airport partners, are following the health guidelines of EASA and ECDC to ensure that our customers and their families can travel safely while minimising the risk of Covid-19.”

O’Leary also offered his support to changes in UK quarantine measures.

He explained: “We welcome a decision by the UK government to replace its failed ‘form filling’ quarantine with air bridges to most of Europe.

“We also call on the Irish government to scrap its equally useless form filling exercise at airports, which does not deliver any quarantine benefit whatsoever, particularly when there is very little follow up and no control on the accuracy of the implementation of these forms.”