site.btaSofia Airport Handles 3.4 Mln Passengers in First Half of 2023

Sofia Airport handled 3,439,763 passengers in the first half of 2023, the airport press office said on Monday. This implies a decrease by 0.7% compared with 2019, the last year before the COVID pandemic. The data show that air traffic rates are gradually restoring after the pandemic.

In June 2023, Sofia Airport serviced 633,530 passengers. The total included 569,667 people on scheduled international flights (2% below the pre-pandemic level in 2019). The two main airports on the Bulgarian coast, Varna and Burgas, serviced 22,670 passengers in aggregate, down by 16% compared with 2019.

Charter flights to/from the capital increased for the third month in a row compared with the same month in 2019. In June 2023, Sofia Airport handled 35,568 charter flights, up by 77% from June 2019.

A total of 5,334 airplanes landed and took off at/from Sofia in June 2023, decreasing by 3% compared with 2019.

Cargo and post handled by Sofia Airport in June 2023 were 25% less than in June 2019. The amount processed in June 2023 was 1,667 tonnes.