In a special ceremony, a SundAir passenger who arrived with her entire family was surprised with unforgettable souvenirs from the airport

On August 2, the most long-awaited moment of the year came for Burgas Airport - the arrival of the 1 000 000th passenger for 2023!

Yvonne Becker, who landed at “The Sunniest Airport on the Black Sea", together with her husband and their two children, with a SundAir flight from Germany, was solemnly welcomed by a number of officials: the Mayor of the Municipality of Burgas - Mr. Dimitar Nikolov, the Chief Executive Officer of "Fraport Twin Star Airport Management" AD - Dr. Frank Quante, and the Director of Burgas Airport – Mr. Georgi Chipilski.

She received a branded backpack and suitcase from "Fraport Twin Star Airport Management" AD, as well as many souvenirs, and from the incoming agency “srl holiday service”, which serves the tourists of the German tour operator Shauinsland reisen, which Is the main shareholder of the airline SundAir, she was surprised with a voucher for a VIP catamaran cruise at our Southern Black Sea coast.

Airline SundAir has been flying to Burgas Airport since 2019, reporting already the fifth consecutive season to the airport, being one of the few airlines that did not interrupt its flights even during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this period, over 300 flights and over 46 000 passengers were served from Germany to Burgas Airport.

This year, the traffic at Burgas Airport is gradually recovering, and for the period January - July 2023, a growth of +13% was reported, compared to the same period last year, with all the Top 10 markets showing growth compared to 2022.

For the same period (January-July) compared to 2019, levels of -39% are still reported, which is due both to the lack of flights from key markets such as: Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, and to the slower recovery of some of the traditional markets for inbound tourism such as: Germany, Great Britain, Israel, and the Czech Republic. In contrast, for the period indicated, Poland recorded passenger growth of +16%, compared to 2019. Also, two more Central European markets recorded flight growth: Hungary and Austria, which were up over 80% for the period.

In the last few years, the share of passengers transported by low-cost airlines has increased significantly, which has been observed as a trend in many European countries since the pandemic. This season we welcome flights from completely new destinations to Burgas Airport - Madrid (Spain) and Groningen (Netherlands), as well as, after more than a 5-year break, flights from Szczecin (Poland), Kaunas (Lithuania) and Paderborn (Germany) were renewed. And the work on attracting new routes for next year has already started.

In order for traffic to recover to 2019 levels, active advertising of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast is needed in the main inbound tourism markets: Germany, Great Britain, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Israel.

"We are happy to welcome the passenger №:1 000 000 in Burgas in 2023! This is a great achievement! We do our best to serve every passenger in the best way and provide a great start in the vacation. Concerning the overall development, we have to do much more to attract more tourists from international markets. The competition to attract tourists is getting more and more intense. As Fraport Bulgaria we do our best to work with all partners in the tourist sector and the Ministry of Tourism to develop more successful! We have an attractive product, but this must be known in Germany, the UK, Israel and in all our current and future markets!", said the CEO of "Fraport Twin Star Airport Management" AD - Dr. Frank Quante.

Burgas Airport looks forward to serving all passengers and guests with its characteristic high level of service quality and ensuring a relaxing stay for travelers!