Airlines are using last week's terrorist attacks on the US as an excuse to demand government aid for problems that "would have happened anyway" it was claimed on Friday.

Cut-price Irish carrier Ryan Air said it was "not very battered at all" by the aftermath of the attacks on New York and Washington.

"We continue to take the same number of bookings per week as we did before the tragic events in the US last week," the airline's spokesman Michael O'Leary told BBC radio. "People are still flying and we see no reason why that will change.''British Airways announced 7000 job cuts on Thursday - predicting a slump in passenger numbers and prompting calls for the government to step in and prop up the failing industry.

Ryan Air accused the industry as a whole of hiding behind the terror strikes to mask poor economic performances.

"I think the industry is more reflecting what would have happened anyway. I think there were going to large job losses among airlines that were losing money before last week. Last week's event's may have brought them forward but our response ... has been to lower our fares," O'Leary said.

A spokesman for British Airways said that his airline had not asked for subsidies but stressed that the government must deliver a level playing field in order to allow UK airlines to compete in the global market.