This is the cost of the cheapest seats on the soon-to-be-launched easyjet route between Liverpool Airport and London Luton.

The no-frills airline hopes to benefit from those disillusioned with the much criticised Virgin Rail services on the West Coast Main Line between the North West and London.

While neither Liverpool nor Luton can compare for glamour with other easyjet destinations such as Barcelona and Athens, the airline says it believes there is considerable potential on the route.

As with the pricing on most no frills routes, the low fare is available on a first come first served basis, with prices for a one way seat rising to a maximum of £80.

It compares with cheapest seats on its other regular routes of £29 and above.

Cheaper than the coach

Excluding special offers such as the current link ups between airlines and newspapers, the fare is believed to be the lowest offered in Europe.

It also undercuts the train and coach services between Liverpool and London, although passengers still have to get to central London from Luton.

Much of Liverpool's tourism is Beatles related

For those without cars or taxis this will be either with a £5 return coach ticket or via a 32 minute train journey from Luton, which costs £18 for a standard return.

Easyjet's James Rothnie said the airline wanted to link up its two UK hub airports and saw itself as competing with both trains and other air services from Manchester Airport to London.

He said it must be the lowest fare for a scheduled flight in Europe, and brushed aside suggestions that the seats were so cheap because Liverpool and Luton may not prove to be attractive destinations.

Easyjet founder Stelios Haji-Iannou

"There is a lot of traffic between the North West and London - there are 20 odd flights between Manchester and London, there are the trains and then there are all those who use the motorway," he said.

"We are competing with the trains and other airlines, but we also believe we can grow the market."

Easyjet claims that on average its planes are more than three quarters full.

The flights, which take little over half and hour, are the closest Liverpool has come to a regular service to London for a number of years.