Low-cost in the new Europe

The good news about getting to the new Europe is that over a dozen low-cost airlines serve the countries of Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

Even on scheduled airlines, the news is positive. British Airways flies to many of these destinations at a fraction of the price it charged a few years ago, and other scheduled airlines also have special deals from time to time.

These are best searched for through sites such as opodo.uk or cheapflights.co.uk, rather than through airline websites directly, as there are often cheap indirect flights using hubs such as Amsterdam or Frankfurt.

Another useful website to bookmark is whichbudget.com as it lists charter options as well as low-cost airlines. This site takes you to Europe's biggest budget airlines directory, featuring 33 airlines and covering over 200 destinations. Unlike other similar sites, which only list airlines they receive commission from, Which Budget is independent and non-commercial.

So much for the good news. Less cheering is the fact that the Baltic states are still difficult to fly to on a tight budget. The best advice here is to opt for an accommodation-inclusive package, where the flights are subsidised as part of the overall cost. Good places to look are cheapflights.co.uk and ebookers.co.uk.

Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic will undoubtedly see rapid development in terms of low-cost airlines moving in, to capitalise on their new business status, but the pace of change for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will be slower, mirroring their economic development. It will happen though, and the next few years will see significant growth in budget airlines in central and eastern Europe.

Estonia
As yet, Estonia has no low-cost airlines, but Estonian Air (estonian-air.com) is offering direct one-way flights Gatwick-Tallinn.

Lithuania
Try Lithuanian airlines (01293 579900; lal.lt).

Latvia
Air Baltic (airbaltic.com) flies direct from Manchester, Birmingham and Heathrow to Riga. Czech Airlines flies from Heathrow via Prague. .

Slovenia
EasyJet (08717 500100, easyjet.com) started flying to Ljubljana from Luton on April 28. Slovenia's national airline, Adria Airways (020-7734 4630, adria-airways.com) operates daily flights from Gatwick and two a week from Manchester to Ljubljana.

Slovakia
Sky Europe (skyeurope.com) flies Stansted to Brastislava. Austrian Airlines launched from Gatwick on May 1.

Czech Republic
EasyJet flies from Stansted, Gatwick, Bristol, East Midlands and Newcastle to Prague.

Hungary
EasyJet has flights to Budapest from Luton. Sky Europe flies from Stansted.

Poland
Air Polonia (airpolonia.com) flies from Stansted to Warsaw, Gdansk, Poznan and Katowice.  On June 14 Sky Europe launched flights from Stansted to Warsaw.