Britons living in Bulgaria. Guide to Bulgaria, Sofia and Varna

Bulgaria: The age of $15 flights - Sofia Echo

Bulgaria: The age of $15 flights Sofia Echo, Bulgaria - Aug 22, 2008 ... the UK since their country joined the European Union in January 2007 as well as Bulgaria’s appeal as a holiday and investment destination for Britons. ...

Bulgaria: The age of $15 flights - Sofia Echo While the other two main Black Sea airports, in Bourgas and Varna, reported less stellar performances, demand is strong enough for budget carriers to plan and open new routes and increase the frequency of existing ones. The airport announced on August 8 that about 1.54 million passengers passed through Sofia Airport in the first half of this year, an increase of 19 per cent on the same period in 2007. Meanwhile, aircraft movements increased by 3000 to 23 370 and cargo volumes grew by two per cent to 9077 tons. The figure has been considerably boosted by UK-based budget carrier easyJet, which launched flights from Sofia to London’s Gatwick Airport in November, carrying 59 000 passengers on the route by the end of June. This reflected passenger volume growth of 41 per cent and 17 per cent respectively. Vienna is the hub for Austrian Airlines, which is aiming to position itself as the leading airline in Eastern Europe by offering a wider range of destinations than any of its competitors or partners. According to the airline, this represents a 30 per cent growth on 2007.Bulgaria Air has been experiencing particularly strong demand on its flights to the coastal cities of Varna (the de facto second city in economic terms) and Bourgas (the fourth city). Both municipalities include major ports, and lie at the centre of a collection of coastal resorts. This represented significantly lower passenger growth rates than that of Sofia. Bourgas’ figure was up only 0.6 per cent on the year, and Varna’s 2.7 per cent. This is particularly welcome because for several years they mostly avoided Bulgaria, preferring to wait for its accession to the EU. In July, easyJet announced that it will be starting flights between Sofia and Madrid in November and between the Bulgarian capital and Manchester, in the north of England, in December. Both routes will run three times a week.Perhaps more significantly, on July 25, Budapest-based low cost airline Wizz Air, which already serves eight European cities from Sofia, commenced the first internal budget flight in Bulgaria’s history, between Sofia and Varna. With tickets starting at 19.99 leva ($15.10) one way, all charges included (cheaper than most bus tickets), Wizz will be offering sharp competition on the increasingly popular route. While it is too early to tell what the effects on the market will be, and whether other low-cost carriers will follow suit, an intriguing precedent has been set. Flights are regularly sold out or selling for as much as it will cost to fly to the USA! There seems to be some sort of price fixing between Bulgaria Air and British Airways. Any unauthorised reproduction or use of it is strictly forbidden. Reproduction of this website's content is permitted only with prior written permission from the Editor-in-Chief, should be propertly acredited and provide an active link back to our site.