July 8 (SeeNews) - British low-cost carrier easyJet will add two new flights to the Bulgarian capital Sofia - from Spain's capital Madrid and the UK northwestern city of Manchester - this winter, aiming to profit from the rising potential of the Bulgarian market, the company said on Tuesday.
The London Luton Airport-based company will fly the Sofia-Madrid-Sofia route three times a week - on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays as of November 3, the company's marketing manager for Switzerland, Austria and Eastern Europe, Peter Voets said.
easyJet will also fly three times a week the Sofia-Manchester-Sofia route - on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, starting from December 11.
Last month, the carrier announced it will start serving also the Sofia-Milan-Sofia route as of October 2, flying the route three times a week as well - on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
easyJet expects to serve 50,000 passengers in the first year of operations on each of the three new routes, Voetz said and added that frequencies could be increased depending on how the market responded on the new flights.
easyJet (www.easyjet.com) started flights to Bulgaria last year and currently flies between Sofia and London 10 times a week. It has served 59,000 passengers on the route since its launch in November.
The company has 162 aircraft operating on 392 routes between 103 airports in 26 countries. It carried 37.2 million passengers in 2007, up 12.9% from the previous year.
Bulgaria with its Black Sea and mountain ski resorts has gained popularity as a business and tourist destination since it joined the European Union in January 2007. Germany’s Lufthansa and low-cost airlines such as Slovakia-based Sky Europe, and Germanwings and Hungarian Wizz Air have also announced plans to expand their operations in the country.