Ryanair leased an extra aircraft yesterday to fly home Irish and Scottish passengers stranded overnight at Beauvais Airport, outside Paris.
A spokesman said Ryanair had put on extra flights to accommodate the passengers, who were affected by the freak winds and flooding which severely disrupted services of all airlines operating in the south of England and northern France on Monday.
While Ryanair's chief executive, Mr Michael O'Leary, apologised to some 600 passengers who were affected, he said only six flights out of nearly 300 had been cancelled.
The spokesman said two Dublin-Beauvais return flights were affected as well as one Glasgow-Beauvais return flight.
Other airlines, including British Midland, Aer Lingus and Air France, also had to cancel flights due to the weather.
Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland, Mr O'Leary was unrepentant about the failure to provide stranded passengers with food or accommodation.
"We don't provide accommodation for passengers when we cancel flights. It's not part of the service," he said.