September 15 (SeeNews) - Passenger traffic at Bulgaria's airports of Varna and Burgas rose by 83% to over 1.4 million in the eight months through August, Germany's Fraport Group, which operates the two coastal airports, said.
Passenger traffic at the Varna Airport went up 49% to 663,867 in the January-August period, while passengers at Burgas Airport more than doubled to 741,451, Fraport Group said in a statement last week.
Cargo handled at the two airports more than doubled to 3,676 t in the period under review. Aircraft movements went up 56% on the year to 12,065.
Burgas and Varna airports are run by Fraport Twin Star Airport Management under a 35-year concession contract awarded in 2006. Fraport Twin Star Airport Management is a 60/40 joint venture of Fraport and Bulgarian company BM Star.
"Most of Fraport’s Group airports worldwide achieved significant growth rates, with passenger figures at some airports rising more than 100% year-on-year – albeit compared to the strongly reduced traffic levels in August 2020," Fraport Group said in its statement. Compared with pre-pandemic August 2019, however, most of the group's airports worldwide still registered lower passenger figures, Fraport added.
Elsewhere in Southeast Europe, Fraport Group operates the airport in Slovenia's capital Ljubljana, as well as 14 airports in Greece. The group also runs an airport in the Turkish resort city of Antalya.