BUDGET airline Ryanair's announcement that it will ban children on some popular routes has left many wondering if it's all a joke.

The Irish airline has created a stir by declaring that it will introduce "child-free flights" by October this year via a press release on their website today.

YOUR SAY: Should children be banned from flights?

“When it comes to children we all love our own but would clearly prefer to avoid other people’s little monsters when travelling,” Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said.

“While half our passengers would like us to divide our cabins up into ‘adult’ and ‘family’ areas it is not operationally possible due to our free seating policy, with optional priority boarding.

“However, with clear demand for ‘child free’ flights Ryanair will introduce child free flights on high frequency routes from the start of our winter schedule in October.”

Ryanair is well-known for its range of controversial fees – just yesterday it announced the introduction of a “compensation levy” – and outrageous ideas such as charging passengers to pee during flights.

However the timing of the announcement has many media outlets speculating that it is an April Fools hoax. There has been no confirmation from the airline yet.

The airline said the move followed a survey of 1000 passenger that revealed that half would pay higher fares to avoid other people’s children.

The survey also found that a third of passengers have had flight ruined by other people’s “noisy” children, with one in five passengers demanding a restriction on the number of kids on flights.

Ryanair: Passengers to pay for flight cancellations