Varna Airport
Varna Airport Letishte Varna | |||||||||||
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| File:Varna-airport logo.gif | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Operator | Fraport Twin Star Airport Management | ||||||||||
| Serves | Varna  | ||||||||||
| Location | Aksakovo, Bulgaria | ||||||||||
| Hub for | |||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 70 m / 230 ft | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 43°13′55″N 27°49′30″E / 43.23194°N 27.82500°E | ||||||||||
| Website | www.varna-airport.com | ||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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| Statistics (2011) | |||||||||||
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Varna Airport (Bulgarian: Летище Варна, Letishte Varna) (IATA: VAR, ICAO: LBWN) is the airport of Varna, the historical maritime capital of Bulgaria.
In 2011, it handled 1,181,830 passangers, a 1.4% decrease compared to the 1,198,956 handled in 2010. [1]
History
The history of the airport dates back to 1916 when two sheds for the first hydro-port in Bulgaria were built in the Peinerdzhik area (present-day Chaika residential area). Irregular mail-plane service from Sofia to Varna was held between 1919 and 1920 and it was not until 1947 that a permanent airline between the two cities was established. What had grown into Tihina Airport was situated west of the present-day Asparuhov bridge and was indeed quite primitive for the demands of a modern city. Thus in 1946 a decision was made and a new airport was constructed several kilometres west of the city, near the village (now town) of Aksakovo, with local people enthusiastically working on the site together with the constructors. Construction and improvement continued throughout the years, with a new terminal erected in 1972 and a new runway in 1974.
Description
There are domestic and international flights to about 70 destinations in 25 countries, more than 100 Bulgarian and foreign airlines. The airport is close to the Port of Varna and the railway system. The airport has one concrete pavement runway 09/27 with ILS CAT I system on 09 edge and a parking apron for 24 aircraft.
Future plans and expansion
Currently, Varna Airport is subject to heavy traffic with the growing tourism industry in Bulgaria and is in need of major investments to modernize, expand and handle projected passenger traffic. In June, 2006 the Bulgarian Government awarded Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide a 35 year long concession on both Varna and Burgas airports in return for investments exceeding €500 million, including a new passenger terminal by 2008.
From 15 October 2011 until 28 February 2012, Varna airport was closed for a reconstruction of the runway. All flights were operated on Bourgas Airport.[2]
Terminals
The airport has two terminals: Terminal 1, which is in use year-round, and Terminal 3 (opened in June 2007), which is used during the summer season.
Terminal 1
Terminal 1 at Varna Airport was built in 1972, and has been extended several times over the years. The departures area has 21 check-in counters and six security checkpoints. In the terminal there are various outlets: cafes, fast food restaurants, currency exchange, and duty-free shops. There are ten boarding gates. The arrivals area has two luggage belts, as well as currency exchange and a tax-free shop. Terminal 1 of the Varna airport has a VIP room and business lounge. In 2010 the VIP room at Varna Airport was renovated.
Terminal 3
Terminal 3 was opened on June 18, 2007. The total covered area is 6000 m2. The summer terminal has nine check-in counters in the departures area, and two luggage belts in the arrivals area. There are four boarding gates. [3]
Airlines and destinations
Scheduled airlines
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Austrian Airlines operated by Tyrolean Airways | Vienna |
| Bulgaria Air | Sofia Seasonal: London-Gatwick, Moscow Sheremetyevo |
| Luxair | Seasonal: Luxembourg |
| Norwegian Air Shuttle | Seasonal: Oslo-Gardermoen |
| Rossiya | Seasonal: St. Petersburg |
| S7 Airlines | Moscow-Domodedovo Seasonal: Novosibirsk |
| Ural Airlines | Seasonal: Yekaterinburg |
| Wizz Air | London-Luton Seasonal: Budapest [begins 27 June 2012] |
Seasonal Charter flights
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Adria Airways | Ljubljana [begins 12 June 2012] |
| Aeroflot | Moscow-Sheremetyevo |
| Air Bashkortostan | Moscow-Domodedovo |
| Air Berlin | Düsseldorf, Hannover |
| Air Méditerranée | Nantes |
| Air VIA | Berlin-Schönefeld [begins 10 June 2012], Budapest [begins 20 June 2012], Cologne/Bonn, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg [begins 9 June 2012], Hannover, Leipzig/Halle, Munich [begins 4 June 2012], Nuremberg, Prague [begins 5 June 2012], Salzburg [begins 14 June 2012], Stuttgart, Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion [begins 21 June 2012], Vienna [begins 21 June 2012] |
| Armavia | Yerevan [begins 7 July 2012] |
| Belavia | Minsk-National |
| BH Air | Birmingham, Bourgas, East Midlands, Gdansk [begins 9 June 2012], Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Zürich [begins 17 June 2012] |
| Bulgaria Air | Antalya [begins 4 September 2012], Bari [begins 28 July 2012], Basel-Mulhouse [begins 30 June 2012], Beirut [begins 11 July 2012], Kuwait [begins 14 June 2012], Larnaca [begins 31 July 2012], Moscow-Vnukovo [begins 4 June 2012], St.Petersburg, Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion, Yerevan [begins 16 June 2012] |
| Bulgarian Air Charter | Antalya [begins 25 August 2012], Beirut [begins 4 July 2012], Berlin-Schönefeld [begins 3 June 2012], Bratislava [begins 26 June 2012], Cologne/Bonn, Dresden [begins 11 June 2012], Düsseldorf, Erfurt, Frankfurns, Hamburg, Hannover, Katowice, Kuwait [begins 8 June 2012], Leipzig/Halle, Munich, Münster/Osnabrück, Nuremberg, Paderborn/Lippstadt [begins 30 June 2012], Stuttgart, Tallinn, Tehran-Imam Khomeini [begins 15 June 2012], Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion, Vienna, Warsaw-Chopin, Wroclaw [begins 3 July 2012], Yerevan [begins 29 June 2012] |
| Edelweiss Air | Zürich [begins 6 July 2012] |
| Enter Air | Gdansk [begins 8 June 2012], Katowice [begins 8 June 2012], Warsaw-Chopin [begins 8 June 2012] |
| Finnair | Helsinki |
| Germania | Berlin-Tegel, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg [begins 26 June 2012], Hannover, Leipzig/Halle, Munich [begins 25 June 2012] |
| German Sky Airlines | Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Leipzig/Halle |
| Germanwings | Cologne/Bonn |
| Jetairfly | Brussels |
| Jet Time | Gothenburg-Landvetter [begins 9 June 2012] |
| Kolavia | Moscow-Domodedovo |
| Kuban Airlines | Kaliningrad [begins 5 June 2012], Moscow-Vnukovo [begins 8 June 2012] |
| LOT Charters | Warsaw-Chopin |
| Mahan Air | Tehran-Imam Khomeini [begins 21 June 2012] |
| Malmö Aviation | Billund [begins 26 June 2012], Copenhagen [begins 26 June 2012] |
| Moskovia Airlines | Moscow-Domodedovo [begins 20 June 2012] |
| NordStar | Moscow-Domodedovo, St. Petersburg |
| OLT Express | Warsaw-Chopin [begins 6 June 2012] |
| Primera Air | Billund, Copenhagen |
| Red Wings Airlines | Moscow-Vnukovo [begins 4 June 2012] |
| Royal Jordanian | Amman-Queen Alia [begins 29 June 2012] |
| SAS Scandinavian Airlines | Stockholm-Arlanda [begins 27 June 2012] |
| Small Planet Airlines | Vilnius [begins 4 June 2012] |
| Small Planet Airlines Polska | Katowice [begins 11 June 2012], Warsaw-Chopin [begins 11 June 2012] |
| SmartLynx Airlines | Riga [begins 7 June 2012], Tallinn, Vilnius |
| South Airlines | Odessa [begins 18 June 2012] |
| SunExpress Deutschland | Frankfurt |
| Tatarstan Airlines | Moscow-Domodedovo |
| Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium | Brussels |
| Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia | Helsinki, Oslo-Gardermoen, Stavanger, Trondheim [begins 26 June 2012] |
| Transaero Airlines | Moscow-Domodedovo, Moscow-Sheremetyevo, St. Petersburg[4] |
| Transavia.com | Amsterdam |
| Travel Service Airlines | Katowice [begins 6 June 2012], Prague [begins 7 June 2012], Warsaw-Chopin [begins 6 June 2012] |
| TUIfly | Düsseldorf [begins 4 July 2012], Hannover |
| Tulpar Air | Kazan [begins 20 June 2012] |
| Ukraine International Airlines | Kiev-Borispyl |
| Ural Airlines | Nizhny Novgorod, Perm [begins 4 June 2012], Samara |
| UTair Aviation | Rostov-on-Don [begins 23 June 2012], Surgut |
| VIM Airlines | Moscow-Domodedovo [begins 2 July 2012] |
| Wind Rose Aviation | Kiev-Boryspil |
| XL Airways France | Paris-Charles de Gaulle |
| XL Airways Germany | Cologne/Bonn |
| Yakutia Airlines | Krasnodar [begins 18 June 2012] |
Destinations map
Passenger statistics
| Year | Domestic | Change | International | Change | Total | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 35,208 | 238,470 | 273,678 | |||
| 1999 | 57,955 |  64.6%
|
453,864 | 90.3%
|
511,819 | 87%
|
| 2000 | 67,508 | 16.5%
|
624,181 | 37.5%
|
691,689 | 35.1%
|
| 2001 | 48,121 |  28.7%
|
884,428 | 41.7%
|
932,549 | 34.8%
|
| 2002 | 45,457 | 5.5%
|
1,045,252 | 12.1%
|
1,090,709 | 16.9%
|
| 2003 | 41,583 | 8.5%
|
1,144,766 | 9.5%
|
1,186,349 | 8.8%
|
| 2004 | 47,575 | 14.4%
|
1,271,552 | 11.1%
|
1,319,127 | 11.2%
|
| 2005 | 49,705 | 4.5%
|
1,496,175 | 17.7%
|
1,546,925 | 17.3%
|
| 2006 | 54,243 | 9.1%
|
1,468,415 | 1.8%
|
1,522,658 | 1.6%
|
| 2007 | 79,058 | 45.7%
|
1,399,035 | 4.7%
|
1,478,093 | 2.9%
|
| 2008 | 119,459 | 51.1%
|
1,313,244 | 6.1%
|
1,432,703 | 3.1%
|
| 2009 | 155,734 | 30.4%
|
1,050,801 | 20%
|
1,206,535 | 15.8%
|
| 2010 | 154,974 | 0.5%
|
1,043,982 | 0.6%
|
1,198,956 | 0.6%
|
| 2011 | 117,431 | 24.2%
|
1,046,453 | 0.2%
|
1,163,884 [5] | 2.9%
|
Transport links
Bus
The Airport Bus stop to Varna and nearby resorts is located just outside Terminal 1.
Line № 409 Route: Varna Airport – Mall Varna – Varna Couch Station – City Center (the Cathedral) – Golden Sands Resort
From the City Center to the nearby Resorts via Varna Airport:
Line № 8 Route: Varna – “St. St. Constantine and Helena” Resort – Varna
Line № 9 Route: Varna – Euxinograde – Sunny Day Resort – Golden Sands Resort – The Riviera – Varna
Line № 109 Route: Varna – Euxinograde – Sunny Day Resort – Golden Sands Resort – Varna [6]
See also
- List of airports in Bulgaria
- List of airlines of Bulgaria
- List of the busiest airports in Europe by passenger traffic
References
- ^ http://www.fraport.com/content/fraport-ag/en/investor_relations/traffic_data0/fraport_group.html
- ^ http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=130853
- ^ http://www.varna-airport.bg/Airport/History/tabid/138/language/en-US/Default.aspx
- ^ Photos - Transaero at Varna Airport (in Bulgarian)
- ^ http://www.fraport.com/content/fraport-ag/en/investor_relations/traffic_data0/fraport_group.html
- ^ http://www.varna-airport.bg/PassengerServices/Howtogetthere/Bybus/tabid/180/language/en-US/Default.aspx