One flight daily will operate to each of the new destinations

The airline will fly from Glasgow Prestwick to Murcia, near Alicante, Hamburg and Dusseldorf and the Italian city of Pisa.

The services have been partially funded by the Scottish Executive's Route Development Fund.

It was set up in November 2002 to help secure new direct air services to Scotland and encourage inbound tourism.

Transport Minister Nicol Stephen described the new routes as "good news for Scotland".

He said: "Excellent direct connections to a wide range of European destinations are good for the economy, speed up travel times to key destinations and also help to reduce the environmental impact of air travel."

Direct links

Ryanair said it would operate one flight daily to each of the new destinations in a move which it predicted would bring in an extra 200,000 visitors to Scotland and generate 400 jobs for the Scottish economy.

The company's deputy chief executive, Michael Cawley, said a one-way flight would cost from �12.99 to �19.99 and would fly seven days a week.

The carrier will fly from Prestwick into Lubeck airport, which is 40 minutes from Hamburg, Niederrhein, which is 45 minutes from Dusseldorf, and the main airports in Pisa and Murcia.

Flights to Dusseldorf will begin in November, with the other three routes beginning in March 2005.

The four new destinations mean the airline will operate 17 routes from Prestwick and one from both Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

Phil Walker, executive chairman of the airport, welcomed the new routes.