Larnaca - Irish low cost airline Ryanair Wednesday made its first flight to Larnaca, carrying 180 passengers from Brussels.

Airport authorities organised a special ceremony to mark the event, with airport officials giving out a slice of a large cake, depicting Cyprus in the colours of Ryanair.

Ryanair will fly from Charleroi airport in Brussels to Larnaca twice a week. An additional route from Girona airport, Barcelona will begin on December 4 twice a week. These two new routes are estimated to bring over 60,000 passengers to Cyprus.

In statements Melissa Corrigan, Sales and Marketing Manager of Ryanair, said ''we are very excited about this new route from Brussels to Cyprus,'' adding that from December 4 Ryanair will start flights from Barcelona.

''We are sure we will do a great job in Cyprus, we want to invest here and to grow up here and we know that with the airport, the administration and government we can have some good relationship and we are sure that we are going to do a very good job and we want to bring a lot of tourists here in Cyprus,'' she added.

On his part, Alfred van den Meer, Chief Executive Officer of Hermes Airports said the new flights ''give plenty of opportunity to the people here.''

''It gives the opportunity not only for the tourists to come to Cyprus which is very important but also gives a chance to Cypriots to travel more frequently to visit their children who study in Europe or explore new parts of Europe,'' he said.