January 5 (SeeNews) - Passenger numbers at Bulgaria's Sofia Airport increased by 22% to a record 4.98 million last year, the airport operator said on Thursday.
In the fourth quarter of 2016 alone, passenger traffic increased by 43% year-on-year to 1.38 million, Sofia Airport said in a press release.
The number of passengers on regular international flights increased by 24%, to a large extent due to the 23 new routes introduced in 2016. Passengers on international flights accounted for 95% of the passenger traffic at Bulgaria’s main airport in 2016.
In the last quarter of 2016 alone, the number of passengers on regular international flights increased by 45% year-on-year.
In 2016, 24 airlines operated a total of 70 routes from Bulgaria’s biggest airport.
A total of 51,829 airplanes took off and landed at Sofia airport in 2016, which represents an annual increase of 17%. In the October-December period alone, 28% more airplanes took off and landed at Sofia airport.
The airport processed 21,157 tonnes of cargo and postal shipments in 2016, an increase of 14% in comparison to 2015.