The Irish carrier Ryanair has said it expects growth to slow further in 2020 due to delays in the delivery of its Boeing MAX aircraft.

It is set to close two more bases in March next year: Germany's Nuremberg and Sweden's Stockholm Skavsta.

Ryanair has again revised its schedule for next year, based on receiving just 10 MAX aircraft rather than the 20 as previously planned.

As a result, expected traffic growth has been cut from 157 million passengers to 156 million.

In a statement, the airline says: "This shortfall in MAX aircraft deliveries will necessitate the closure of two more bases in S.2020; Nuremberg and Stockholm Skavsta.

"We also expect to cut summer capacity in a number of other existing bases, and we are currently in discussions with our people, our unions, and our affected airports to finalise these minor reductions.

Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson said: "We regret these two further base closures and minor capacity cuts at other bases which are solely due to further delivery delays to our Boeing MAX aircraft.

"We are continuing to work with Boeing, our people, our unions and our affected airports to minimise these capacity cuts and job losses".

US company Boeing is still waiting for the green light to fly the models, after they were grounded globally in March following two fatal crashes.

Nearly 350 people died in the crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia.

Irish engineer Micheál Ryan was among those killed on the Ethiopian Airlines flight, shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa.