LOW-cost airline easyJet last night announced new routes to Eastern Europe, including daily flights between Newcastle and the Hungarian capital, Budapest.

A total of six routes are being added to the easyJet network in Eastern Europe, including flights from Luton to Warsaw and Krakow, in Poland.

About two million passengers are expected to use the routes in the next 12 months, with thousands of people in the North-East expected to take advantage of cheap flights to Budapest.

The routes announced yesterday continue easyJet's expansion into central and Eastern Europe following the success of flights to Prague and the Slovenian capital Ljubljana.

The no-frills carrier is backing the flight with a massive advertising campaign and single fares from about £13, available from October 31 this year.

Ray Webster, easyJet chief executive, said: "It was only two months ago that we started services to Budapest and Ljubljana. We are now ready to continue what we started and commence services on a much bigger scale.

"New services from Krakow and Warsaw show we are very serious about expanding in the region.

"Over the coming months, we will also be working with the airport company to help reduce costs. Our experience demonstrates that low cost services are only sustainable in the medium and longer term when airports and airlines work together in partnership to dramatically reduce the cost of service provision.

"This means aligning infrastructure and services with the requirements of the low-cost sector, right-sizing its capacity and working with the ground-handling agents to ensure efficient and competitive handling services are available."

EasyJet offers services from Newcastle to Prague, Berlin, Barcelona, Belfast, Copenhagen, London Stansted, Paris and Nice, among others. Budapest will be the 13th Easyjet destination offered to North-East travellers.