April 10 (SeeNews) - Traffic at Bulgaria's Sofia Airport reached 567,267 passengers in March, which was still below the pre-pandemic levels, the airport operator said.
Exceeding 1.5 million passengers, traffic was higher in the first quarter of 2023 compared with the same period last year but has not yet rebounded to the levels of 2019, airport concession-holder SOF Connect said in a press release on Saturday.
In March alone, there were over 23% fewer passengers, or 15,530, on domestic flights to and from Varna and Burgas, whereas regular international flights delivered 530,823 passengers.
No recovery to 2019 levels was observed in charter flights either last month, with 21% fewer people, or 16,917, having travelled on such flights.
At 4,656, aircraft take-offs and landings in March were 5% fewer than in 2019. In the same month, cargo handled at the airport reached 1,806 tonnes, or almost 13% less than in 2019, the airport operator added.