Around 100 Ryanair workers are set to lose their jobs after the airline announced cuts to its winter services from Shannon and Dublin airports yesterday

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The no-frills airline said two planes would be removed from its 21-strong fleet here, resulting in the loss of 100 Ryanair jobs and a further 550 airport posts.

CEO Michael O'Leary blamed the €10 airport tax for "devastating" Irish tourism after one million fewer passengers went through Dublin Airport so far this year compared to the same period in 2008.

He warned a further 350 Ryanair jobs could be lost in the coming months, with its Shannon base scrapped altogether, if the Government did not get rid of the tax.

"It highlights once again how isolated this government is if they are taxing tourists instead of welcoming them," Mr O'Leary said.

Almost all the Ryanair job losses will be among pilots, cabin crew and engineers, with each transferred plane accounting for around 50 losses each.

Mr O'Leary said all of the cuts would be involuntary and no redundancies would be offered to staff.

"We don't do redundancies. You can transfer to one of our other operations, otherwise you can go," he said.

Opportunity for transfer overseas will be available for some of the staff and Mr O'Leary said everyone under threat was being urged to apply.

The aircraft being switched will be moved to countries where no tourist tax exists, such as Belgium, Holland, Greece and Spain. The cuts will hit 44 flights a week at Dublin and 36 at Shannon. It is the third set of cuts to hit Ryanair's flagship Dublin base this year, with the number of planes now down from 22 to 16.

Mr O'Leary warned the remaining three planes at Shannon and another three at Dublin Airport could be switched elsewhere in the coming months.

He claimed a total of 2,500 jobs at Dublin Airport could be under threat by the end of the year if Ryanair's estimate of a 2.5 million fall in passenger numbers becomes a reality.

This would leave a €750m hole in tourism revenues as a result, with the loss in VAT receipts far outweighing any revenue that the airport tax might generate, he said.

The Department of Transport were not available for comment last night.

Mr O'Leary refuted the possibility that the economic crisis, and not the tax, had been the main factor behind the fall in passenger numbers.

He said Ryanair were continuing to grow across Europe this year and that he had written to Taoiseach Brian Cowen, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan and Transport Minister Noel Dempsey to urge them to reconsider the tax.

Mr O'Leary pledged to reverse the cuts to winter services if the Government agreed to scrap the tax.

"But I hold out no prospect of this government getting up off it's a**e and making a decision on anything within a month or two. Maybe if lightning struck somewhere in Castleknock or Clara," he joked.

Source Irish Independent