Irish carrier Ryanair has claimed the British air-traffic control provider NATS is discriminating against it.

It says Ryanair and London Stansted Airport are being discriminated against - while Heathrow is being given special treatment, and Gatwick is also being preferred.

It is quoting data published by the UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Ryanair says it has submitted a formal complaint to the EU Commission on the issue.

The airline claims: "Stansted Airport suffered 52% of all ATC delays in the London area from January - Mar 2018 caused by NATS, while Heathrow (which has three times the traffic) had 0% of NATS delays and Gatwick just 10%."

Ryanair today (3 Sep) released data published by the UK CAA which confirms that Ryanair and London Stansted Airport are being discriminated against by NATS (the UK airline owned ATC provider).

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— Ryanair (@Ryanair) September 3, 2018

Ryanair adds: "The failure of NATS to fairly supply ATC staffing and airspace resources at Stansted Airport has wreaked havoc this summer on both Ryanair and London Stansted flight schedules, with 2018 shaping up to be the worst year on record for ATC disruptions at Stansted."

It says the UK's CAA Oberon report "confirmed that Stansted suffered 15,268 (52%) delay minutes of NATS attributable ATC delays in Q1, while Heathrow suffered none, zero, nada."

Ryanair adds it has been "forced to cancel hundreds of flights as a result of UK ATC staffing shortages and management failures".