PADDY Power, a leading internet bookmaker, has opened betting on the next Ryanair route to be withdrawn. But the bookmaker quickly changed its mind and removed the web page. The book named all the airlines hubs including Stansted, Luton and Birmingham an

PADDY Power, a leading internet bookmaker, has opened betting on the next Ryanair route to be withdrawn.

But the bookmaker quickly changed its mind and removed the web page.

The book named all the airlines' hubs including Stansted, Luton and Birmingham and the public were invited to bet on the one from which they thought the budget airline will decrease outgoing flights.

Stansted came in at a healthy 6-1 to be the next airport to see a reduction in flights, whilst leading the way was Luton at 4-1. Last was Kerry Airport, in Ireland, at 12-1.

A disclaimer on the website said that if flights are cancelled from all of the airports then all bets already place would be voided.

The website read: "Applies to the next Ryanair hub after September 26 that Ryanair cancels scheduled flights from permanently. Dead Heat may apply should they announce more than one cancellation of a route. Bets void should all routes get cancelled permanently."

Paddy Power is also offering betting on which budget airline will go bust next, as petrol prices and the credit crunch affect fuel prices and passenger numbers.

FlyGlobeSpan and Spanair are the favourites at 6-4 and 6-1 respectively, but Ryanair, which is considered extremely unlikely to go bust, comes in at a healthy 100-1, the same as global flyers British Airways and Virgin.

Ryanair has not commented on the betting, but the book had been removed from the website by Wednesday.

A spokesman for Paddy Power said: "That particular betting opportunity did not seem too popular with our customers after a week online, so we removed it to focus on our market for which budget airline will be next to go. We have had thousands of bets already placed on that, so it didn't make sense to keep both books going."

British Airways chairman, Willie Walsh, has been quoted as predicting that 30 more budget airlines could go before the end of the year.

Who would you bet on? E-mail us your views on this story at editor@dunmow-broadcast.co.uk