site.btaPassenger Traffic at Bulgarian Airports Up 18% in 2017

Sofia, March 21 (BTA) - "2017 was a good year for the Bulgarian aviation as it saw an increase of 18 per cent of passengers at Bulgarian airports to 11,500,000," said Stanislav Stanoulov, Chairman of the Bulgarian Airlines Association at its 16th annual meeting. He said the increase was driven mainly by low cost companies. The largest increase was reported in international regular services and the share of charter flights declined, he said. Passengers on international flights from and to Sofia grew by 29 per cent and from and to Varna and Bourgas by a total of 6 per cent.

Sofia Airport handled 6.6 million and the airports in Varna and Bourgas 4,9 million people .

Stanoulov urged for a strategy for the development of aviation by 2020. In this respect Sofia Airport plays an important role in order to sustain the increased number of passengers. Stanoulov said that growth has exceeded the most optimistic forecasts but this favourable trend will be stalled by the restricted capacity of the terminals at Sofia Airport.

Yanko Georgiev, CEO of Bulgaria Air, called for a state policy which will make Sofia Airport into a hub airport.

Brexit will affect the aviation market as the majority of low cost companies based in London will transfer to other European markets. It won't pose a risk to Bulgarian traffic, said Yanko Georgiev, taking a question.

According to Stanoulov, the Bulgarian aviation has a very well developed industry for aircraft maintenance and repairs in the face of Lufthansa Technik Sofia, Aero Technik, Bulgarian Air Charter, BHAir, Heli Air. He said that Bulgaria already has a hangar for repairs of wide-body aircraft and more hangars are under construction.

The issue with training of pilots remains on the agenda in view of the emerging shortage of pilots worldwide because of the growing number of airline companies and flights. The Bulgarian civil aviation has two centres for the training of pilots, mechanics and crew cabin, said Stanoulov.
  
The Bulgarian News Agency received the annual award of the Bulgarian Airlines Association for accurate reporting and preservation of the historical memory of the Bulgarian Civil Aviation.