Ryanair mulls Poland-Israel route for Auschwitz trips

Low-cost European airline Ryanair is looking at introducing flights between Israel and Poland to cater for Israeli schoolchildren visiting the former Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.

"It seems that every Israeli child has to go to Poland to go and see Auschwitz. We can help them with that," said the carrier's deputy chief executive, Howard Millar.

Although Ryanair is based in Dublin, it has expanded across Europe and has in the last 12 months become Poland's number-one airline, according to a results statement published on Monday.

Millar's comments were made at a press conference in London to launch the statement, but only emerged in the media on Tuesday.

A Ryanair spokesman confirmed to AFP that the airline "has had discussions with a number of Israeli airports, but they are purely exploratory at this time".

He rejected the characterisation that Ryanair was trying to cash in on Jewish children's visits to Auschwitz, saying Millar was merely remarking on the potential for growth in the Israeli market.

More than one million people, mostly European Jews, were killed between 1940 and 1945 at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the most notorious of the death camps operated by Nazi Germany.

The site, located near Krakow in southern Poland, has become a major visitor attraction and many schools in Israel organise educational trips there for their pupils.