Ryanair is planning to introduce the ‘Ryanair Cash Passport’, a MasterCard prepaid card which it claims will enable passengers to avoid its booking fee.

Ryanair’s £6 admin fee will not apply to UK bookings completed with Ryanair Cash Passport from 4th October onward.

However bookings made with any other UK MasterCard prepaid card will attract Ryanair’s £6 admin fee from 1st November 2011 onwards.

Ryanair claims that the Cash Passport, which will be managed by Access Prepaid Worldwide, will deliver a number of benefits for cardholders ranging from a special introductory offer, to the waiver of transactions fees for payments made online.

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said: “Ryanair’s £6 admin fee will not apply to any bookings made with ‘Ryanair Cash Passport’ and there are no transaction charges for using the card at UK merchants until 31st March 2012, so we recommend that UK passengers make the switch to ‘Ryanair Cash Passport’ as soon as possible to take advantage of the no fee offer.”

Access Prepaid Worldwide’s, Debra Janssen said: “We are delighted to be working with Ryanair to develop this exciting ‘Ryanair Cash Passport’ prepaid product for their UK passengers, allowing them to ensure they are using a trusted and approved product that will deliver real savings every time they purchase a Ryanair flight.

The move comes shortly after the announcement by the Office of Fair Trading that it is investigating airline card charges.