SPANISH AUTHORITIES have demanded information from Ryanair after online travel agencies warned the firm was threatening to leave thousands of passengers who booked online on the ground.

The public works ministry is awaiting an answer from Ryanair on its plans to cancel tickets booked through online Spanish eDreams, Rumbo and Atrapolo, before deciding on whether to take action, a spokeswoman said.

"The ministry only acts if we find a breach to the law on passenger rights," she added.

Ryanair has said it is cancelling all flights booked through online travel agencies which the airline calls screenscrapers, as it considers the sites are acting illegally.

"We believe this is a quicker and more effective way of discouraging this unlawful activity and we hope that by getting rid of screenscrapers we will speed up passenger processing times on Ryanair.com, as well as ensuring that Ryanair passengers are not paying unnecessary handling charges or higher fares to screenscrapers," said Ryanair in a statement.

The no-frills airline is already taking legal action against online bookers in Spain to stop them selling tickets, as well as against Irish booker BravoFly and German booker Vtours.

Edreams said it was exploring all possible legal action against the airline over the cancellations. - (Reuters)