The low-cost carrier will pilot the concept of giving passengers the opportunity to connect between its own flights at Rome Fiumicino later this month. It then plans to “rapidly” expand the service to additional airports.

The Irish airline is also planning to offer “feeder” flights on to long-haul services – Ryanair has been in talks to facilitate this with both Aer Lingus and Norwegian in recent months.

Ryanair expects to start offering this service from late 2017 with either one or two other airlines.

Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair’s chief marketing officer, said: “As we expand the Ryanair route network, customers will for the first time be able to book connecting Ryanair flights on the Ryanair.com website, with a feeder flight service with other airlines following later this year.”

Ryanair also warned of a “distinct possibility” that there would be no flights between the UK and the EU for a “period” after March 2019, when the UK is due to leave the EU.

It reaffirmed its policy to “pivot” growth away from the UK over the next two years due to the uncertainty created by Brexit and whether the UK will remain within the European Single Sky open skies agreement.

Ryanair’s latest moves were revealed as part of its Always Getting Better (AGB) programme, which is now in its fourth year and is designed to improve Ryanair’s services to customers.

The airline has also announced a range of new digital initiatives as it bids to become the “Amazon of travel”, including rolling out Ryanair Holidays into three more European markets later this year.