In connection with the media statements about Burgas Airport in the last week, "Fraport Twin Star Airport Management" AD would like to emphasize once again its commitment as a responsible concessionaire and employer to continue to further grow the year-round traffic and connectivity of Burgas Airport. "Fraport Twin Star Airport Management" AD has and will upgrade the infrastructure of Burgas Airport as a modern and attractive airport for airlines and passengers in line with all safety and security requirements, as this is a priority №1 for the company. "Fraport Twin Star Airport Management" AD is part of Fraport Group that served in 2023 about 132 million passengers in more than 30 airports. Developing Burgas Airport in line with international rules is mandatory and has been done in close alignment with the Ministry of Transport & Communications since the start of the concession in 2006, based on our Concession contract.

Since the beginning of the concession in 2006, more than 110 million euros have been invested in Burgas Airport projects. For the period from 2022 to 2026, "Fraport Twin Star Airport Management" AD has committed to invest more than 50 million euros (of which more than 7 million euros have already been invested) at Burgas Airport.  

A major and due to safety reasons planned project is the full rehabilitation of the runway. A final decision on this project has not been taken and also the alignment with state authorities has not been made. In this regard, "Fraport Twin Star Airport Management" AD would once again assure all stakeholders that any suspension of flights at Burgas Airport, due to repair works, will be planned extremely carefully and reiterates its commitment that a temporary closure of the airport for flights is avoided to the extent possible and will not take place during an active summer season! Avoiding the impact on traffic and tourism is a top priority during the rehabilitation of the runway and all other repair works. The planning of the investment projects is done with internationally experienced specialists from “Fraport Group” and reputable external companies, in line with all relevant National and European legislation. We remind that a full rehabilitation of the runway was done at Varna Airport in the winter of 2011-2012 and resulted in almost half a year of closure for flights during which the traffic was directed to Burgas Airport.

Burgas Airport is a passenger airport with limited cargo traffic. In 2023 it served more passengers than Varna Airport - as in nearly all years since 2006 - and as also forecasted for 2024. There was never any attempt to transfer traffic from Burgas to Varna. Public speculation of reducing Burgas Airport only to cargo traffic is absolutely baseless and harmful to tourism development.    

"Fraport Twin Star Airport Management" AD emphasizes that only the airlines decide to open or close new routes or to increase or decrease traffic by volume or towards year-round routes. The airlines take their decision solely based on commercial considerations to use Burgas Airport.  

The traffic at Burgas Airport is promoted every year by the “Fraport Twin Star Airport Management” AD in the most important international aviation forums and tourist events. In addition, the airlines and tour operators are frequently contacted and proposals for new routes including year-round routes are made, following the aviation sector best practices. This includes close collaboration with the national authorities, such as the Ministry of Tourism, national and international tour operators, municipalities, and associations in the tourist sector. “Fraport Twin Star Airport Management” AD together with its partners founded the Bulgarian Black Sea Alliance and organized with the Ministry of Tourism Roadshows in Poland, Germany, and the UK with hoteliers and tour operators, invited travel journalists and tour operators to personally experience the Bulgarian Black Sea with its touristic facilities, and involves itself into various marketing activities in touristic source countries. All of this is done to attract airlines for new routes, more traffic and especially year-around traffic.

"Fraport Twin Star Airport Management" AD supports its stakeholders in their efforts for the development of tourism on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast and remains open to any future cooperation in this direction. This includes the development of winter traffic at Burgas Airport, which historically has never been intensive, as the most long-served routes are the currently existing London Luton – Burgas (16 consecutive years) and the currently stopped Moscow – Burgas (11 years) routes, because of the sanctions against the Russian Federation. "Fraport Twin Star Airport Management" AD is doing its best with all of its efforts to increase the winter traffic.

To create a better public understanding of the traffic development and investment projects,   Fraport Twin Star Airport Management” AD   will communicate its efforts in detail to the media, the municipalities, and touristic stakeholders.