Ryanair’s boss has doubled down on his point that rivals EasyJet and WizzAir will not survive as independent airlines without a merger.

Chief executive Michael O’Leary said it would be a “sensible development,” for the airlines to merge in the future and there was industry-consensus there would be “more consolidation across Europe” post-Covid.

“I’m not sure if Whizz or EasyJet can survive as independent airlines because they’re not able to compete with Ryanair on cost,” O’Leary said, speaking on Sky News on Wednesday morning.

If they did not merge together, they were likely to merge with other airlines, the CEO added.

“(It is) complete nonsense,” EasyJet CEO Johan Lundgren told Reuters, in response to O’Leary’s previous claims. “I would urge anyone who runs an airline to focus on their own business rather than speculate about others, (where) they have no idea about what’s going on.”

He said EasyJet was not opposed in principle to consolidation carried out in the form of external transactions.

Lundgren was asked whether the airline saw itself as a buyer in any future shake-out of the European industry. “We would be looking at companies, as I am sure companies would be looking at us. There is no drama around that at all,” he said.

“It’s like a family or a marriage, we differ from time to time,” Ryanair’s boss said on Wednesday. He said the most important thing was “good, healthy competition” that results in customers getting the best deal.

The airline was seeing “extraordinary” bookings for the October half-term to popular destinations including the Canary Islands and Portugal.