Passenger numbers at Bulgaria's coastal airports drop 20% y/y in May

The passenger volume at Varna Airport dropped by an annual 34% to 96,588 last month, whereas passengers at Burgas Airport grew by 6.7% to 82,943, Fraport Group, majority owner of the airports operator Fraport Twin Star Airport Management, said in a monthly traffic report.

The total passenger numbers at both airports amounted to 66.3% of the traffic recorded in the same month of pre-pandemic 2019.

In January-May, combined traffic at the two coastal airports totalled 508,216 passengers, down by 23.2% on the year, with Varna Airport contributing 377,925 passengers, data showed.

Cargo handled at the Varna and Burgas airports plunged by 91.5% year-on-year to 22 tonnes in the review month. For the first five months of 2024, cargo was 60.7% less than a year earlier, at 296 tonnes.

Aircraft take-offs and landings at both airports fell by an annual 17.6% to 1,453 in May and by 17.6% to 4,569 in the first five months overall.