BERLIN, GERMANY - The current record highs in oil prices will force some airlines into bankruptcy, the outspoken chief executive of budget airline Ryanair told a German newspaper on Sunday.

World oil prices have rocketed 25 per cent since the start of 2008 and have doubled in the past 12 months from around US$62.

If the high prices remain or rise over the next 12 months, some Ryanair competitors will go out of business, Michael O'Leary told the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Among the victims would be German's second larget airline, Air Berlin, he said, adding that five years from now, Ryanair and Germany's top airline Lufthansa would share the German market.

Record oil prices have been putting pressure on airlines across the world. Lufthansa announced on Thursday a rise in its fuel surcharge on European and intercontinental flights.

Mr O'Leary promised that Ryanair would not follow suit and vowed the company would double in size over the next four years. -- AFP