Budget airlines are not a threat to existing carriers

According to the National Airport Operator PPL, Polish airports serviced seven million passengers last year, a 7.6% increase over 2002. This year, however, supply could increase rapidly, with the onset of low-cost airlines. Air Polonia, which launched operations in December, is likely offer around 430,000-500,000 tickets this year, Germanwings, which launched flights to Germany yesterday - around 40,000 and SkyEurope some 17,000. Meanwhile, Hungary's Wizzair has a very optimistic plan of flying 600,000-700,000 passengers to and from Poland this year. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B4) T.J.