Aircraft

Irish budget carrier Ryanair is to postpone opening its Edinburgh base until it can shuffle additional capacity to the Scottish city, after new aircraft deliveries were threatened by the strike at Boeing.

The airline is pushing back the opening from 23 September to 5 November, by which time it expects to free capacity through cuts to its winter schedule.

"Unfortunately, the two new aircraft which we had reserved for [the new base] are now indefinitely delayed," says Ryanair deputy chief Michael Cawley.

Ryanair has an order backlog of more than 130 Boeing 737-800s. But the carrier has been planning to take some of its current jets out of service for the winter period, notably at its London Stansted base.

Eleven routes from Edinburgh will be affected by the postponement.

For more information on the Boeing strike see FlightBlogger's coverage