THE head of Ryanair has promised a massive expansion in low-cost flights from Glasgow Airport if he can cut a deal to locate its aircraft there.

Speaking during a visit to Scotland yesterday, Michael O’Leary revealed he had been in discussions with the airport over the last six months about establishing a base for the no-frills airline in addition to those at Prestwick, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

However, he said these had run aground due to an insistence by Glasgow Airport management that Ryanair avoided routes already served by EasyJet and Jet2.

His announcement drew a baffled response from Glasgow Airport yesterday, which insisted there had only been “exploratory discussions” with the airline, which had not expressed any serious interest in locating a base there.

One source accused Mr O’Leary of “conducting his negotiations in public” in an attempt to bully the airport into considering the move.

At a press conference in Glasgow to mark Ryanair’s 30 mil-lionth passenger on a Scottish flight, Mr O’Leary said there was no reason why Glasgow could not enjoy the same rate of expansion as that enjoyed in recent years by Edinburgh.

Locating a base in Glasgow would allow Ryanair to fly to around 40 destinations – similar to the route network from Edinburgh – and service holiday sun spots as well as European cities such as Milan, Rome, Barcelona, Brussels and Scandinavian destinations, Mr O’Leary said.

“The discussions are continuing but I don’t see much progress at the moment. We’re not going in unless we can compete with high fare airlines. I expect we might go in when the airport is finally sold by BAA,” he said.

A report from the Competition Commission due next week is expected to give BAA 18 months to sell Stansted then either Edinburgh or Glasgow airports.

Edinburgh overtook Glasgow as Scotland’s most popular airport in 2007 and now carries more than two million more passengers a year than its rival, with much of its growth down to expansion by Easyjet and Ryanair, which located a base there three years ago.

By contrast, Prestwick Airport has lost nearly one million passengers since a peak of 2.4 mil- lion a year in 2008 as Ryanair has cut capacity. The airline last month announced it would cut three destinations from its winter schedule, including its London Stansted service.

Mr O’Leary said Ryanair’s commitment to Prestwick would not be affected by a tie-up with Glasgow as, given higher landing charges it would have to pay at Glasgow, it would still be able to offer lower fares and different routes from its Ayrshire base.

A spokesman for Glasgow Airport played down the significance of the discussions yesterday.

“Like any airport operator we meet with airlines on a regular basis and while we have held exploratory discussions with Ryanair, at no time whatsoever did we receive any serious note of interest from the airline to build a base at Glasgow Airport as they’ve told us they’re happy at Prestwick,” he said.

Aviation analysts also questioned whether Glasgow would have any power over airlines to determine which routes they flew and, under its licence conditions, would be obliged to let any airline use it if it paid landing charges.

Laurie Price, director of aviation strategy at Mott Macdonald, said the conflict with Ryanair and Glasgow Airport was more likely to be over incentives to start up new routes.

“Airports are allowed to offer incentives to airlines to develop new routes as long as they do so in a transparent way,” he said.

“There is no reason why Ryanair wouldn’t be able to expand at Glasgow and, given their ability to generate traffic, of course any airport would be interested in that.

“But Ryanair has also shown that it will drop destinations quite quickly if they don’t work, as they did with Inverness-Liverpool, and what Glasgow Airport probably don’t want is a fair weather friend.”