By AFP, Updated: 04/07/2012

Ryanair eyes 19 cities from Poland's newest airport

Low cost Irish carrier Ryanair said Tuesday it was launching flights to 19 destinations across Europe from a new airport to open later this month just north of Poland's capital Warsaw.

Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said that as of July 16 the carrier would offer connections from Modlin to Barcelona, Bologna, Bristol, Brussels, Budapest, Dublin, Dusseldorf, the East Midlands, Eindhoven, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Milan, Oslo, Paris, Rome and Stockholm.

O'Leary expects close to 1.5 million passengers flying out of Modlin Airport annually.

Focused primarily on attracting budget airlines which have deemed operating costs at Warsaw's Frederic Chopin international too high, the revamped military airfield at Modlin is receiving final certification from civil aviation authorities.

Hungary's low cost Wizzair is also planing about 20 connections out of Modlin airport as of July 18.