Maybe April Fool’s Day comes early in Ireland? Just four days after European budget airline Ryanair announced its board approved plans to launch transatlantic flights, the company backtracked, saying no such plans have ever been in the works.

In a short statement released Thursday afternoon, Ryanair denied that the airline had considered or approved an expansion into the U.S. market via transatlantic flights.

“In the light of recent press coverage, the Board of Ryanair Holdings Plc wishes to clarify that it has not considered or approved any transatlantic project and does not intend to do so,” the statement reads.

The abrupt about-face comes after it was widely publicized that within the next five years the company would begin offering flights to New York, Boston, Chicago, Miami from London, Dublin and Berlin, with one-way tickets that could start as low as $20.

At the time, representatives for the Ireland-based company reportedly told the Irish Times that a start date for the flights depended on the availability of aircraft, but that Ryanair was already in talks with manufacturers to buy more long-haul planes.

BBC News reports that Ryanair first announced plans for transatlantic flights back in 2008, but nothing had come to fruition until this week.

Ryanair abandons plans to operate transatlantic flights [BBC News]

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