Low-cost airlines

Boeing Co. said on April 4 it has signed a new, $3 billion deal with Iran's Aseman Airlines to supply 30 737 MAX aircraft to the carrier, the first major sale by a U.S. company to the Islamic Republic under new President Donald Trump.

German airline group Lufthansa and pilots' union Cockpit said on March 15 they had struck a new deal to end a years-long battle over pay, pensions and jobs.

The Irish low-cost airline ''Ryanair'' will implement their summer program for flight also during the winter of 2017, and the tickets are already on sale from a starting price of EUR 9.99 per direction, said the company during their conference in Sofia on Monday.

The reason for their decision is the increase in ticket sales in Bulgaria and the expectation that it will continue.

Emirates has announced it is offering seats on its new Athens-New York direct service starting on March 12 from just 499 euros for bookings up to February 20 and for the periods from March 12 to May 31 and November 1 to December 10.

Low-cost airline Ryanair will perform all its flights from and to Sofia at Terminal 2, news website Dnevnik.bg reports, citing company officials.

Ryanair, which last year launched flights to more than a dozen destinations at Sofia Airport, used the older Terminal 1 for a few months.

Nearly 50 million passengers have departed and arrived at Sofia Airport in 2016.

This is a record for Bulgaria's capital Airport.

Passengers serviced were 22% year-on-year.

Total number of passengers was 4,980,387. Out of these, over 2.3 million were serviced at Terminal 1, while another 2.6 million were serviced at Terminal 2.

The works scheduled to take place at the Thessaloniki International Airport runway are expected to have a negative impact on tourist arrivals during the peak of the 2017 season, according to newspaper “Macedonia”.

Pilots at German flag carrier Lufthansa will resume their strike on Nov. 29-30, their union said, as talks over a dispute concerning wages ended without a resolution.

Pilots' union Cockpit said it was calling on members flying short-haul flights to stay away from work on Nov. 29, and those flying both short and long-haul destinations to stage a walkout on Nov. 30.

Pilots at German flagship carrier Lufthansa stayed away from work for a second straight day on Nov. 24, forcing the airline to scrap 912 flights and grounding 115,000 more passengers.

The airline had already scrapped nearly 900 flights that affected 100,000 passengers on Nov. 23 after pilots staged a walkout in a row over pay and working conditions.

British travel company Thomas Cook posted broadly flat annual profit after its attempt to grow was hampered by customers turning their backs on holidays to Turkey, and said it was encouraged by future demand for trips abroad.