BUDGET airline Ryanair has called for air passenger duty to be scrapped as it announced eight new routes out of Scotland.

From next summer the airline will carry three million passengers and sustain 3000 jobs with the additional flights, chief executive Michael O'Leary claimed.

Two new routes to Poland have been announced for Glasgow Prestwick to Warsaw and the historic southern city of Rzeszow, as reported in later editions of last night's Evening Times.

Ryanair will also fly from Edinburgh to both Bologna and Cagliari in Italy, Beziers in France, Santander in Spain, the Greek island of Corfu and Katowice in Poland.

Mr O'Leary said they will start in around six months, while nine other flights from the airports will increase in frequency.

The new routes from Edinburgh Airport are significant because Ryanair reduced its flights from there in February after failing to agree lower costs and charges with operator BAA.

The airport is now run by Global Infrastructure Partners and Mr O'Leary said further announcements on growth are likely.

"We have eight new routes out of Glasgow and Edinburgh for summer 2013, growing both airports by around 400,000 passengers that should lead to 400 new jobs spread evenly between the airports.

"We've been very impressed by GIP. They are very committed to growth.

"I don't think today's announcement will be the last because, given their commitment, they want to grow the airport quickly and that's a breath of fresh air after dealing with BAA who only wanted to fatten profits for its eventual sale."

Mr O'Leary backed calls from all of Scotland's main airports for the UK government to scrap air passenger duty (APD). Last month Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh airports commissioned a report that claimed the charge could lead to a drop in both passengers and tourism spending.

The tax could cost the Scottish economy £210million a year in lost tourism spending by 2016 and could lead to 2.1m fewer passengers in Scotland's airports by then, the report claimed.

Mr O'Leary said: "I think APD has done huge damage to Scottish tourism and jobs. So I think it's important for Scotland that APD is scrapped, particularly for domestic routes."

Prestwick Airport has been up for sale since March and it is hoped the expansion by Ryanair will interest potential buyers.

Tom Wilson, chief executive of Infratil Airports Europe, owners of Glasgow Prestwick, said: "This expansion is good news. Despite tough economic times and ridiculously high levels of APD, we are actually seeing passenger numbers rise."