Transport in Bulgaria - Air Transport

Air Transport

After the second terminal of International Airport Sofia was built the total number of passengers rose and reached 3 230 696 in 2008, and in April 2011 Airport Sofia serviced 282 694 passengers, 13% more than the same period of 2009, when the record was 250 000 passengers. In 2011 passenger traffic at Bulgaria's three major airports - Sofia, Varna and Bourgas - grew up to near 10% on the year to 3.89 million in the first half of 2011, due to rise of customers using international routes and launch of new destinations.

In the past aviation compared with road and railroad transport used to be a minor mode of freight movement, and only 860,000 passengers used Bulgarian airlines in 2001. In 2008 Bulgaria had 204 airports, 127 of which had paved runways. Two airports, Sofia Airport and Burgas Airport, had a runway longer than 3,000 meters, and there were four heliports. The second- and third-largest airports, Varna Airport and Burgas Airport, serve mainly charter flights and have regular domestic links with the capital. In the early 2000s, Sofia Airport received substantial renovation, with aid from a Kuwaiti-led consortium, in anticipation of increased air connections with Europe. A three-phase expansion was scheduled for completion in 2010. The communist-era state airline, Balkan Airlines, was replaced by Bulgaria Air, for which a private owner was to be selected from among bidders by the end of 2006. In 2005 Bulgaria Air transported 517,000 passengers to international destinations, including all major European cities