Finland has become the latest destination to suffer a withdrawal of Ryanair flights, with the carrier intending to slash services by half this winter.

Ryanair will cease flying to Turku, south west of Helsinki, for the winter - ending a service from Stansted - and will cut flights to Tampere and Lappeenranta.

The budget giant operates 13 routes to Tampere, also in southwest Finland, including two from the UK - from Stansted and Edinburgh. It will reduce these to five.

Ryanair operates two services to Lappeenranta, in the south east near the border with Russia, neither from the UK.

A spokesman for the carrier confirmed the suspension to Turku saying it was a summer destination.

The Finnish press quoted Lappeenranta deputy city director Kari Koriakoski saying: “This is difficult to understand because flights have been almost full.”

The city was reported to have spent €800,000 (£640,000) on marketing tied to the flights.

Ryanair has blamed governments, airport authorities and tourism bodies for a series of recent cuts in services, saying they have refused to meet funding agreements or cut taxes and charges.

The carrier confirmed last week it was suspending flights to Larnaca in Cyprus.

Over the previous three months it has axed flights to Madrid, Barcelona, the Canary Islands, Morocco, Kos and Rhodes.