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Prague's international airport has been forced to hire porters to carry passengers' luggage up 32 stairs because a multi-million pound construction project didn't budget for an escalator.

A new metro line extension opened this week in the Czech capital – transporting travellers closer to the airport than ever before – but the point where passengers transfer from trains to buses doesn't have a moving staircase.

That means porters are left to carry travellers' heavy bags up and down the steep stairs at Nadrazi Veleslavin station, in north-west Prague, from 5am to 10pm every day, free of charge.

Porters are carrying passengers' luggage up and down the stairs at Nadrazi Veleslavin station every day

The construction project didn't budget for an escalator between the metro station and bus terminal

One of the porters, Radek Mojzis, a 23-year-old student at Prague's School of Economics, told the Associated Press that he applied for the job because he wants 'to stay fit and help the elderly.'

Without a direct train connection, the No 119 bus takes passengers on the final five miles between Vaclav Havel Airport and the nearest metro station.

More than three million airport customers use the bus every year, choosing not to go by car or risk being ripped off by one of Prague's notorious cab drivers.

The 20billion koruna (£527million, $787million) metro extension was supposed to transform Nadrazi Veleslavin station into a transport hub for the airport, with passengers transferring to trains, not buses.

Travellers can use a lift, but they are forced to cross a busy road to access the bus terminal

But the project is unfinished and the escalator that was constructed connects with an unbuilt train station.

Jiri Stabl, a spokesman for the Prague Public Transport Authority, told AP that the train project is delayed and 'it became impossible' to change the original plan to include an escalator for those transferring from the metro station to the bus terminal.

He added: 'We don't feel it is a mistake of the transport company.'

An escalator was built for airport customers but it connects the metro station and an unbuilt train station

The new extension allows passengers to travel between central Prague and the airport in 30 minutes, including the bus ride.

Officials are now considering adding an escalator while it remains unclear when the train project will be completed.

Travellers can use a lift located at another part of the metro station, but it is not a seamless transfer.

Once they arrive on the surface they are forced to cross a busy road to enter the bus terminal.