BUDGET airline Ryanair will cut the frequency of some London Stansted routes this winter in the wake of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.

The airline were strong backers of the campaign to remain in the EU and noted in a first quarter statement released on July 25 that the referendum result was both a “surprise and a disappointment”.

A Ryanair spokesman said: “Until some clarity emerges over the next two years about the UK’s long term political and economic relationships with the EU, we will be unable to predict what effect it will have on our business and regulatory environment, but we have contingency plans in place for all eventualities.

“In the meantime, we will pivot our growth away from UK airports and focus more on growing at our EU airports over the next two years.

“This winter we will cut capacity and frequency on many London Stansted routes (although no routes will close) where we are already significantly ahead of our multiyear traffic growth targets.”

It is not yet known which routes from the airport will be affected by the changes.

A Stansted Airport spokesperson said: “Ryanair has a very healthy route network at Stansted and we are sure that they will continue to offer passengers a great range of destinations.

“The airline has grown significantly at the airport in recent years and as Stansted is the only major airport in the London system which still has spare runway capacity, we expect the strength of the London and European markets to result in continued long term growth.”

The airport have also insisted that a reduction in frequencies during winter months, especially to lower demand destinations, is not unusual.