January 17 (SeeNews) - Combined passenger numbers at the Bulgarian coastal airports of Varna and Burgas increased by 12.2% year-on-year to 5.55 million in 2018, Germany’s Fraport Group, which operates the airports, said.
Passenger traffic at Burgas airport grew by an annual 9.9% to 3.28 million last year, while passengers at Varna airport increased 15.8% to 2.28 million, Fraport said in a monthly report earlier this week.
In December alone, combined passenger traffic at the two airports fell 3.4% to 74,902, as passengers at Varna airport decreased by 5.8% to 61,895, while passengers at Burgas airport increased by 9.6% to 13,007.
Combined aircraft movements at the two airports rose by 9.6% on the year to 41,060 in 2018. At Burgas airport, aircraft take-offs and landings grew by 8.5% to 23,284, while at Varna airport aircraft movements increased 11.4% to 17,776.
Cargo handled at the two airports decreased by 41.0% to 8,565 tonnes in 2018.
Fraport Twin Star Airport Management, a 60/40 joint venture of Fraport and Bulgarian company BM Star, told SeeNews last year it plans to invest 256 million levs ($149.7 million/130.9 million euro) by 2027 in the two Bulgarian airports it operates.
Fraport Twin Star Airport Management won a 35-year concession to run the airports in 2006.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)