LOW-COST airline Ryanair is to launch twice-daily flights linking Blackpool airport with London Stansted.

The seven days a week service starts on May 1 -- three weeks before the airline starts service from Blackpool to Dublin.

The London flights -- fares start at £29.99 one way -- will connect with more than 50 European destinations served by Ryanair from Stansted.

A fast rail link, the Stansted Express, goes directly to Liverpool Street station in London.

Blackpool Airport Managing Director Garry Eastwood said today: "Ryanair's flights will be of particular benefit to businessmen and women who need fast, well-timed links with London.

"But they should also receive a very warm reception from all Lancashire and Cumbrian tourism interests."

He added: "The London flights should boost Blackpool's own holiday industry by providing what many people in the tourism trade have long wanted -- the means for large numbers of visitors from the south to fly into the UK's biggest seaside resort quickly and cheaply."