Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary says summer holidays in Europe are likely to go ahead later this year thanks to COVID-19 vaccines.

O'Leary said that a smooth roll-out of the three vaccines would allow trips abroad with ‘few restrictions’.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: "We are taking significant bookings from people booking holidays this summer.

"There is a huge upward spike at the end of the third wave. I think the vaccine is the solution to this."

At the moment, he believes it is too early to say if trips could begin by Easter but added: "Certainly by the summer, by the time we get to the school holidays, we’ll see few restrictions across Europe because of the roll-out of these vaccines."

Ryanair has criticised the Irish government for keeping open the border with Northern Ireland, while heavily restricting flights to other countries.

Michael O'Leary said on Monday: "You can't seal your borders in countries of Europe where you have free movement of people, there is still free movement of people between the Republic of Ireland and the north of Ireland across the border.

"The real solution is vaccination, not artificial travel restrictions."

Michael O'Leary

O'Leary wants to see clarity for people who would like to book flights.

He said: "People who need to make travel arrangement for March need to know if there is going to be any flights.

"There certainly aren't going to be any flights in February, they need to know with some certainty if there will be flights in March."

Last week, it revealed to shareholders that it expects to carry between 26million and 30million passengers in the 12 months to March, which makes up the company's financial year.

It is a downgrade from its previous estimates of fewer than 35million passengers.

However, the company said it does not expect a material impact on its net loss for the year, because many of the cancelled flights would have been loss-making anyway.