"Fraport Twin Star Airport Management" AD with a growth of 18% in the passenger service in 2022, while still remaining below 2019 pre-pandemic levels

Last year, the airports in Varna and Burgas welcomed 3.7 million passengers and served more than 27 thousand flights of overall 70 airlines operating charter and scheduled flights to more than 105 destinations in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. There is a trend of the gradual recovery of passenger traffic to pre-COVID level, despite the unpredictable situation, caused by the war conflicts in key markets such as Russia, Ukraine and Israel. As a result “Fraport Twin Star Airport Management” AD ended the year with 18% growth of the passengers served, in comparison with 2022, still remaining below the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, and for the two sea airports they are respectively: -12% for Varna Airport and -36% for Burgas Airport, below the general recovery trend in Europe, especially at leisure airports!  

Varna Airport

On July 26, 2023, Varna Airport welcomed its 1,000,001st passenger for the year, with flight programs of 44 airlines to 68 destinations successfully performed at the airport for the whole year. More than 1.8 million passengers have been served, which is an increase of 24% compared to 2022, but still down -12% from 2019 levels! Most of the passengers have been served by the top five countries: Germany (576 thousand), Bulgaria (229 thousand), the United Kingdom (181 thousand), Poland (150 thousand), and Austria (134 thousand). The top five destinations from Varna Airport were: Sofia (Bulgaria), London (the United Kingdom), Vienna (Austria), Istanbul (Türkiye), and Tel Aviv (Israel). Charter flights to multiple routes were performed last year - Lille (France), Krakow (Poland), Karlovy Vary (the Czech Republic), Aalborg (Denmark), Bergen (Norway), Djerba (Tunisia), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Brussels (Belgium), Pristina (Kosovo) and Girona (Spain), and 5 (five) airlines started flying from/to Varna Airport. 13,850 flights have been served at the airport, of which 10,169 were regularly scheduled flights, and 2,367 were charter flights. Most charter flights served the following five destinations: Katowice, Warsaw, Poznan (Poland), Leipzig, and Hannover (Germany). The months with the most intensive traffic of passengers for the last year were: June, July, and August, and the day with the biggest number of served passengers - 16,994 was August 1. A total of 62 tons of cargo were handled last year. The airlines, which transported most passengers to Varna Airport in 2023 were: Wizz Air, Bulgaria Air, European Air Charter, Turkish Airlines, and Ryanair.

Burgas Airport

On August 2, Burgas Airport welcomed its 1,000,000th passenger for 2023, as flight programs of 46 airlines to 75 destinations were served. The airport welcomed 1.8 million passengers, which is a growth of 13% compared to 2022, but is -36% from pre-pandemic levels as of 2019! The top five countries from which Burgas Airport served the most passengers have been: Poland (474 thousand), the United Kingdom (377 thousand), the Czech Republic (207 thousand), Germany (160 thousand), and Israel (88 thousand). The top five destinations from Burgas Airport were: London (the United Kingdom), Warsaw (Poland), Prague (the Czech Republic), Katowice (Poland), and Tel Aviv (Israel). 6 (six) new airlines operated flights to/from Burgas Airport, and 7 (seven) new routes have been included in the airport portfolio - Kaunas (Lithuania), Gothenburg (Sweden), Szczecin (Poland), Madrid (Spain), Paderborn (Germany), Bergen (Norway) and Groningen (Netherlands). A total of 13,174 flights have been operated at the airport, of which 6,042 were regularly scheduled, and 5,478 were charter flights. The largest number of charter flights served the following five destinations: Katowice, Warsaw (Poland), Prague, Brno (the Czech Republic), and Tel Aviv (Israel). The months with the most intensive traffic at the airport were: June, July, and August, and the day with the biggest number of passengers was August 11 - a total of 26,644 passengers. A total of 2556 tons of cargo and mail were transported during the year. The airlines, which transported most passengers to Burgas Airport in 2023 were: Ryanair, Smartwings, Wizz Air, European Air Charter, and TUI Airways.

The CEO of Fraport Twin Star, Dr. Frank Quante, stated: „First I want to thank all partners for their collaboration and all our employees for their committed work! We served the passengers and the airlines on a high-quality level, always reliable! Concerning the traffic we are suffering from a relatively slow recovery, especially as the costs are increasing significantly and big investments have been completed. The focus of our work is to grow the tourist traffic and we took good steps in this direction, together with our partners from the tourist sector and very much with the support of the Ministry of Tourism. The marketing campaign initiated by the Minister of Tourism with more than 20 projects is very important! All of us together, we have to continue our efforts in 2024, this is very important!.“