Around 1,000 Liverpool fans stranded by cancelled flights

Around 1,000 Liverpool fans are grounded at airports after three flights to Kyiv were cancelled.

The operator, World Choice Sports, insists the issue of not being able to secure landing slots at Kyiv's Boryspil Airport is the fault of the host city of Saturday's Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid.

"We have exhausted all avenues to try and get landing slots," the operator's statement included, as reported by BBC Sport. "We have had them from Liverpool airport and Manchester airport and we have applied for slots in the correct manner and time frame with the authorities. To reiterate: This problem IS with Kiev."

The flights are understood to have cost some disappointed supporters up to £1,000 each, with many now frantically poring over maps and flight schedules to find their way to the continental showpiece.

Liverpool released a statement after news broke of the travel problems:

Liverpool Football Club is continuing to work with all of the relevant stakeholders in the UK and Ukraine in an attempt to resolve a situation which has left around 1,000 fans without flights to Kiev for the Champions League final.

Flights chartered by World Choice Sports had been set to take supporters to Ukraine, but a dispute between the Widnes-based travel company and the aviation authorities in Kiev over the size of the aircraft has led to the trips being cancelled.

Along with officials from Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Liverpool City Council, UEFA and the authorities in Kiev, Liverpool FC has been endeavouring to resolve the issue since it first came to light and will continue to do so until all avenues have been exhausted.

UEFA decision to allow the Ukrainian capital to host the final has proven increasingly controversial. Fans were first hit by hotels charging up to 100 times their normal rate to cash in on Saturday's match, and earlier reservations have been cancelled for a range of excuses.

"They just don't have the airport infrastructure and the hotel capacity to cope with an event of this size and there isn't another major city within real hitting distance of it," the Reds' chief executive Peter Moore told the Liverpool Echo newspaper.

"It's not only affected Liverpool fans but Real Madrid fans too. There will be lessons learned from this. Rest assured, I've raised this at the highest levels of UEFA."

It's understood around 2,000 Real Madrid supporters have returned their tickets citing logistical problems and skyrocketing costs.

Some locals have opened up their houses to accommodate fans of either team for free in the days surrounding the final.

Kyiv's Olympic National Sports Complex also hosted the Euro 2012 final between Spain and Italy.