Irish low-cost airline Ryanair said on Monday it was scrapping its paid inflight entertainment system due to lack of demand from passengers.

Ryanair said it had decided not to introduce the much-lauded portable entertainment units, on trial on some of its planes since November, across its fleet.

``It was lack of demand. They decided not to follow it any further,`` a Ryanair spokeswoman said.

It was a rare about-face for Chief Executive Michael O`Leary who said in September the units would become ``as common as the in-flight magazine``.

However, the airline said it had not lost any money on the system which it had on trial on just five aircraft before making a significant investment.

Ryanair is now considering in-flight gambling as the latest source for non-ticket revenue.

Passengers were asked to pay GBP£5 ($9.48) to access movies, cartoons and television shows on the portable units, which resemble small laptops, and are not built into seats as on full-service carriers.

(Reuters)