EU asks Ryanair to explain cancellations

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission has written to Ryanair (RYA.I) for information on whether the airline is breaking laws on passenger rights by cancelling up to 500 passenger-flights a day, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

Europe's biggest budget carrier said it started last week cancelling bookings on its Web site made by online ticket agents known as "screen scrapers" who were then selling them on to passengers at inflated prices.

Around 400-500 tickets are being reimbursed each day because they slow down the Ryanair Web site and violate its copyright terms, said a Ryanair spokesman.

But media reports say many passengers remain angry after missing holidays.

"The Commission has sent a letter to Ryanair requesting information in order to assess the compatibility of the airline's recent alleged policy... on air passenger rights," said a Commission source. "This was a fact-finding letter."

A Commission spokesman confirmed the request for information, but Ryanair said it had not yet received it.

Ryanair said earlier this month that Irish screen scraper BravoFly had agreed to stop using Ryanair's Web site after the airline took legal action.

(Reporting by Pete Harrison; editing by Mark John).