Ryanair has said that it intends to raise £50 million through an offering of new shares in the company and has confirmed plans to seek a listing on the London Stock Exchange in a bid to expand its shareholder base in Europe.

The airline's main shareholders - the Ryan family, chief executive Mr Michael O'Leary and Irish Air, the investment vehicle of chairman Mr David Bonderman - have also confirmed that they intend to sell around £50 million of their shares in the company, representing around 6 per cent of the airline's share capital.

The Ryan family and Irish Air will reduce their stake by 2.4 per cent while Mr O'Leary will sell some 1.2 per cent of his shares.

"We believe that now is an ideal time for Ryanair to issue a small amount of new stock and apply for a listing on the London Stock Exchange," Mr Bonderman said. "This will enable us to expand the shareholder base here in Europe as we expand our route network in Scandinavia, France and Italy."

The company recently announced pre-tax profits of £37.1 million for the year to the end of March, ahead of market forecasts. At the time it signalled that a London listing was under discussion although the possibility was raised by Mr O'Leary as early as last October. At the time, he said the company would consider a British flotation once it had secured more European routes out of London.

It has launched six routes from London Stansted to Pisa, Rimini and Venice in Italy, Carcassonne and St Etienne in France and Malmo in Sweden.

Ryanair shares are already listed on the Nasdaq exchange in New York and on the Irish Stock Exchange where they closed unchanged at 515p yesterday.

Ryanair has appointed Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Davy Stockbrokers as joint lead managers of the proposed offering.