Low-cost airlines 'helping hard-to-reach areas'

The ongoing growth of low-cost airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair is helping foreign markets by turning hard-to-reach areas into accessible locations, it has been claimed.

Louise Hall, business director of property and estate agent website Primelocation.com, said that areas that are now popular with Brits, such as Barcelona, owe some of their success to services provided by low-cost carriers.

She claimed that the Costa Brava region has enjoyed a marked rise in popularity among foreign property investors in recent years.

"The further expansion of low-cost airlines into smaller regional airports in European countries has made areas originally hard to reach very accessible," Ms Hall said.

"Barcelona and the Costa Brava region as a whole have become more popular with UK buyers in the last two to three years."

Ryanair, which operates the bulk of its services out of the UK from Stansted Airport, claims to be Europe's largest low-fares airline.

It flies to numerous destinations in Spain from its Stansted base, including Murcia, Almeria, Seville, Valencia and Jerez.