Pilots are being secretly trained up by crisis-hit airline Ryanair at Prestwick Airport as they bid to meet a crippling staff shortage.

The budget jet firm were forced to cancel thousands of vital flights during one of the busiest times of the year.

A Ryanair flight at Prestwick Airport

Now Ryanair planes have been spotted taking off, circling and landing Boeing 737 jets at the Ayrshire airport after they doubled their trainee flight numbers.

They practised manouevers, repeating the circuit six times throughout the morning as trainee pilots learned their trade.

Thousands of passengers were hit when Ryanair axed flights to London from Glasgow and Edinburgh last week - but Prestwick Airport was dealt the cruel blow back in 2011 when the London route was cancelled.

The Irish airline currently fly to Corfu, Pisa and Rome in Italy, Malta, Rzeszow in Poland, Faro in Portugal and ten airports in Spain from Prestwick.

It was once Ryanair’s main base in Scotland, but falling passenger numbers have seen operations move to bigger aiprorts at Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The training rush comes as Ryanair’s first direct flights to Poland from Prestwick launched this week.

Airport chief exec Ron Smith commented: “We’re delighted to be bringing back direct connections from Glasgow Prestwick Airport to Poland for winter 2017/18.

“We have a significant amount of experience in serving the passengers who would use this route to visit friends and family, for business travel or who are looking for a city break with a difference.”

We reached out to both Ryanair and Prestwick Airport for comment on the training missions, but they failed to respond ahead of our deadline.