Ryanair, the no frills airline, is in discussions with the City of Derry Airport about potential additional routes from Northern Ireland next year.

Ryanair chief executive Mr Michael O'Leary said the City of Derry airport is one of five airports used by the airline that may get new routes next year.

"We are talking to 30 airports in total, 14 of which are new Italian airports, and they all want Ryanair to come to them.

"We have already announced our routes for this year so we will not be increasing the daily service between the City of Derry Airport and Stansted in the current year but we are in discussions with a number of airports about next year's schedule," he added.

The City of Derry Airport, according to Mr O'Leary, is the second fastest growing airport for Ryanair in Ireland. The airline claims to carry around 10,000 passengers per month between Derry and London.

Last year the airline carried more than 125,000 passengers from the City of Derry Airport; this year it expects that figure to increase to 160,000.

Mr O'Leary said any future developments at Derry would depend on what incentives the airport offered.

"We don't view any airport as a long-term arrangement per se; the biggest incentive for us to use an airport is a package of low charges. "All of our existing arrangements are interchangeable so if, for example, Belfast was to come up with a better package then we would certainly consider it."

Ryanair does not have a presence at either of Northern Ireland's other airports.

Easyjet has a well-established relationship with Belfast International Airport where it is one of the largest carriers from the North.

Belfast City Airport does not have any low-cost operators and is understood to be wary of offering them cutprice incentives.