Rival carriers, such as easyJet, Jet2 and Monarch, have offered packages for some years.

Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair’s marketing director, said: “We want to be an Amazon of travel. We want people to come to Ryanair to buy more than flights.

“Consumers have been paying too much for package holidays for years.”

Initially travellers from the UK, Ireland and Germany will be able to assemble Ryanair package holidays, both to traditional Mediterranean destinations as well as cities such as Berlin, Amsterdam and Barcelona. The new venture is selling a four-night trip to Lisbon in March for £76, including flights and accommodation. Next May, a trip to Mallorca is available for £142 for a week.

The firm has teamed up with a Spanish tour operator, Logitravel, and the “bed bank”, World2Meet, to arrange the holidays. Holidays will be ATOL-bonded, for which passengers will pay £2.50.

Mr Jacobs said that accommodation in Spain would be in short supply in the summer of 2017. The country saw its highest number of visitors ever this summer, as holidaymakers from the UK and Germany moved away from countries regarded as dangerous, such as Turkey and Egypt.

“Spanish Mediterranean hotels are 30 per cent more booked for next summer than they were at this time last year,” he said.