December 13 (SeeNews) - Combined passenger numbers at the Bulgarian coastal airports of Varna and Burgas increased by 12.5% year-on-year to 5.48 million in the January-November period of 2018, Germany’s Fraport Group, which operates the airports, said on Thursday.
Passenger traffic at Burgas airport grew by an annual 9.9% to 3.26 million in the first eleven months of the year, while passengers at Varna airport increased 16.5% to 2.22 million, Fraport said in a monthly statistical report.
In November alone, combined passenger traffic at the two airports fell 6.8% to 68,246, as passengers at Varna airport decreased by 7.9% to 58,153.
Passenger traffic at Burgas airport remained unchanged at 10,093 in November.
Combined aircraft movements at the two airports rose by 10.1% on the year to 40,210 in January-November. At Burgas airport, aircraft take-offs and landings grew by 8.4% to 23,061, while at Varna airport aircraft movements increased 12.4% to 17,149.
Cargo handled at the two airports decreased by 43.7% to 7,625 tonnes in the first eleven months of the year.
Fraport Twin Star Airport Management told SeeNews earlier this year it plans to invest 256 million levs ($160.6 million/130.9 million euro) by 2027 in the two Bulgarian airports it operates.
In 2006, Fraport Twin Star Airport Management, a 60/40 joint venture of Fraport and Bulgarian company BM Star, won a 35-year concession to manage the two coastal airports.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)