Sofia Airport Records 8.3 % Increase in Number of Passengers in July

The airport of the Bulgarian capital recorded a 8.3 % increase in the number of passengers in July compared to the same month in 2014.

A total of 393 312 passengers were serviced in July, with 67 % of them going through Terminal 2, while the remaining 33 % passed through Terminal 1, which services the low-cost airlines.

The traffic on regular international routes increased by 7.5 %, reaching 364 000 passengers in July, daily Dnevnik informs.

There was a growth in the number of passengers flying on European routes, which increased with five new destinations at the end of July, when Wizz Air started operating on five new routes - Cologne, Memmingen (Munich West), Geneva, Naples and Bari.

There was a double increase in the number of passengers on the regular route to Doha as well as the seasonal flight to Catania.

There is a growing interest on the regional routes to Athens and Belgrade.

The passengers on charter flights were 2744, which represented an increase of 22 % compared to July 2014.

Nearly 80 % of the tourists flying on charter flights opted for a Bulgarian airline.

There was a 4 % increase in the number of passengers on domestic flights, which was due to the new route to Varna.

The total number of airplanes, which took off and landed at Sofia Airport was 4173, which was an increase of 7 % compared to July 2014.

The number of charter flights increased by 8 %, while the corresponding increase in the number of domestic flights was 6.3 %.

From  the end of March 2016, Wizz Air will start flying to four new destinations from the Bulgarian capital - Alicante, Bristol, Hamburg Lubeck and Oslo, while Ryanair will start operating daily flights between Sofia and London Stansted from May next year.