As from Thursday, Ryanair passengers will only be allowed to take one small personal bag on board, to be placed under the seat in front - or else pay for hand luggage.

But Italy’s antitrust watchdog said on Wednesday it was provisionally suspending a new hand luggage policy at both Ryanair and Wizz Air.

The antitrust body said the two low cost airlines were planning to only let very small bags be brought on board for free and instead start charging passengers for trolleys.

“The request for supplementary pay for an essential element of air transport, such as hand baggage, provides a false representation of the real ticket price ... misleading the consumer,” the watchdog said.

Ryanair announced last August that it was to end its long-standing practice of allowing passengers to take a 10-kilogramme piece of hand luggage for free and would charge between €6 and €10 for the service from November.

If a passenger wants to bring a medium-sized suitcase of up to 10 kilos, they will now have to pay.

Passengers can pay between €6 and €8 to take it on board and put it in the overhead locker or pay between €8 and €10 to check it in.

The airline said it was making the change as planes were being delayed as passengers brought too much hand luggage.

Maltese Labour MEP Alfred Sant earlier on Thursday challenged the European Commission to investigate the policy, following on from the Italian authorities own proble. Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola has supported his stand.