The budget carrier has rolled back on plans to cease operations at Faro airport, which serves the Algarve.

However, it will reduce the number of aircraft based at Faro from three to two, resulting in a number of job losses.

Ryanair said the initial decision to close its Faro base was a result of delays to the delivery of its new fleet of Boeing 737 Max aircraft.

The 737 Max was grounded worldwide in March following two fatal crashes in just five months.

In a statement, Ryanair confirmed it had reached an agreement with Faro airport operator ANA “which may enable it” to cancel the planned closure.

“Instead, the Faro base could now be reduced to two aircraft from November 2019 to March 2020 due to the delayed deliveries of up to 30 of Ryanair’s Boeing Max aircraft.

“This Faro base continuation can now be made possible with the agreement of Ryanair’s Faro-based cabin crews to move to seasonal contracts to reflect the seasonal nature of traffic to and from the Algarve.”

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary added: “While this agreement will preserve the majority of Ryanair pilot and cabin crew jobs in Faro this winter, the reduction in the base from three to just two winter aircraft will lead to up to 80 job losses among our contract cabin crew in Faro.

“However, the final number of job losses could be reduced to less than 50 with some of these crew members securing vacancies elsewhere in the Ryanair network in Europe.

“Regrettably, these contractor job losses are unavoidable due to the delayed delivery of more than 30 Boeing Max aircraft to Ryanair this winter.”