Passenger numbers at Bulgaria's coastal airports fall 29% y/y in March

The passenger volume at Burgas Airport slumped by 45.1% year-on-year to 4,546 last month, while passengers at Varna Airport fell by 27.4% to 68,955, 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 99.2% of the traffic recorded in the same month of pre-pandemic 2019.

In January-March, combined traffic at the two coastal airports totalled 230,019 passengers, down by 19.8% in annual terms, with Varna Airport contributing 203,864 passengers, data showed.

Cargo handled at the Varna and Burgas airports plunged by an annual 67.3% to 97 tonnes in the review month. For the first quarter of 2024, cargo was 28.8% less than a year earlier, at 259 tonnes.

Aircraft take-offs and landings at both airports declined by 26.1% on the year to 666 in March and by 13.7% to 2,181 in the first quarter overall.