Rival budget airlines began a summer price war yesterday to fill a glut of empty seats, with more than ten million tickets on sale at £20 or less.

Ryanair and easyJet are flooding the market with cheap tickets in a desperate attempt to stimulate demand in a period when they are taking delivery of dozens of new aircraft.

Both reported a sharp fall in the number of seats occupied on their aircraft last month.

Ryanair announced the cheapest deals, saying it would offer 3.5 million seats this summer for £10, inclusive of taxes and charges, another 3.5 million at £15 and 3 million at £20.

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You have to hand it to Ryanair, an airline that charges a £1 wheelchair levy, £4 for a sandwich, and £7 to check in a bag

Steve Keenan, Travel Editor, Times Online

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It offered to pay double the difference to any passenger booking with Ryanair and finding a cheaper fare between the same cities within an hour on an another airline.

Ryanair also said it was abandoning the policy of quoting a headline fare on its website without including taxes and charges. This has allowed Ryanair to claim it offers flights which are either free or cost 1p, even though the customer usually ends up paying at least £30 for a return ticket.

Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s chief executive, admitted that the policy had resulted in scepticism about the airline’s price promotions.

He also said Ryanair was acting before an anticipated legal change in Britain requiring airlines to quote inclusive prices on their websites. France, Germany, Belgium and Poland have already introduced such a rule.

The Air Transport Users Council issued a report last week strongly criticising Ryanair and other budget airlines for misleading passengers by failing to include charges of up to £50 in the prices shown on their websites. Mr O’Leary said that demand for flights had weakened after the doubling of air passenger duty on economy flights in Europe to £10 in February.

Ryanair will have to pay £10 in duty for each £10 ticket it sells, but it still hopes to make a profit by charging extra for baggage, priority check-in and food and drink on board.

Mr O’Leary dismissed suggestions from easyJet that publicity about the environmental damage caused by aircraft was beginning to make people consider whether they should fly less.

“I don’t think there’s any evidence that the loonies are dissuading people from flying. I don’t see people buying less kiwi fruits or kumquats in Sains-bury’s either.

“Reality TV shows are littered with people buying property overseas and if anything people are travelling more.”

The number of flights per month worldwide is due to rise above 2.5 million for the first time this month, largely because of rapid growth in China and India.

Joss Garman, a campaigner with Plane Stupid, the hardline antiaviation group that blockaded BAA’s Heathrow headquarters last month, said: “The scientists have made it clear that the culture of binge-flying — weekend stag dos in Prague and second homes in Spain — has to end.

“Yet while admitting the need to curb emissions, the Government continues to set the conditions for growth through expansion of airport capacity and through tax breaks to the industry worth £10 billion a year. That’s like claiming to fight obesity and then feeding schoolchildren Big Macs.”

Andy Harrison, easyJet’s chief executive, said that the airline would cut 10 per cent off the “lead-in” prices it offers on nearly 300 routes across Europe this summer.

Its cheapest fares will fall from £14.99 to about £13.50 including taxes.

Mr Harrison said: “We expect aggressive competition in the summer. It’s a good time for customers to fly.”

–– Airlines are resorting to random testing of their flight crews to prevent the use of drink and drugs (James Rossiter writes).

Yesterday Emirates Airlines signed up the British drugs-testing company Cozart, which makes kits used to test for drugs including alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, amphetamine and heroin.

The airline will test random urine samples taken from staff flying their routes from Britain and the rest of Europe to Australia, the Middle East, the Far East and the United States.

Virgin Airlines has also signed a similar deal with Cozart, The Times has learnt.

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