A MAJOR international airline is demanding compensation of hundreds of thousands of pounds from Newquay Airport for damage to its reputation following the debacle of its three-week closure last month, writes the WMN's Lyn Barton.

Budget carrier Ryanair has confirmed it will be sending a bill to the airport, which is owned by Cornwall County Council, over the shut down that forced services to be cancelled and left passengers stranded in France and Spain.

The Western Morning News believes that the other two airlines which used the airport in December, Air Southwest and Skybus, will also seek compensation.

Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara promised action would be taken, saying: "We have not issued an invoice as yet, however we do intend to. This will include an element of damage to the company's reputation."

Mr McNamara was unable to say how much the company would be demanding, as the final assessment of impact on passengers was not yet complete. However, as a benchmark he said the Irish carrier had billed the British Airports Authority for g500,000 (about £455,000) over disruption to its flights from Stansted Airport during last month's one-day Plane Stupid protest.

When the closure of Newquay Airport was announced in November, with just four days' notice, Ryanair had return daily flights from Newquay to London Stansted and European flights handling 3,000 to 3,500 passengers a week.

The company was incandescent to be given such short notice, labelling the county council "Keystone cops" and refused to reschedule flights from the airport until March.

In December, two other scheduled carriers operated flights from Newquay Airport, Skybus to the Isles of Scilly and Air Southwest – the biggest operator from the airport. Neither would be drawn on the compensation issue last night, but industry insiders say that both are likely to try and recoup from the council additional costs incurred during the closure.

The airport was forced to shut on December 1 after the council, which owns the civilian airport, had been due to take over the adjacent RAF St Mawgan site. As the RAF had previously handled air traffic, this would have meant the council obtaining a licence from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

However, as the air traffic control tower was not ready, the CAA refused to allow the transition. The airport re-opened for business on December 20, after it was granted a licence.

Independent councillor Mark Kaczmarek said the cost of the fiasco was bound to be passed on to council taxpayers. "It was originally said that all the costs of the closure would come from Newquay Airport's budget, but I do not believe they have enough money."

The WMN was unable to contact Andrew Mitchell, the councillor responsible for the airport, yesterday, but he had previously said the bill for the issues experienced during the handover would cost "hundreds of thousands of pounds".

The WMN has also been asking the council to disclose full details about the impact of the closure.

The authority has been asked repeatedly to reveal whether it or contractors are at fault and whether any insurance policies would cover the costs. It has also been asked whether the closure will be subject to a full enquiry, as demanded by MPs. However, the council has declined to comment in detail.

Last night it issued a statement saying: "Any question of airline compensation is a contractual matter between the airlines and Cornwall County Council, and we are not in a position to make any comment relating to such contractual matters."