The airport in Varna, the largest city on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, is set to come under growing pressure as international airlines have signed up to serve burgeoning tourist demand.

Concern has risen about whether the airport will cope this summer.

On February 4, the Bulgarian Airlines Association (BAA) held its fourth annual meeting in Ihtiman near Sofia.

BAA reported that nearly five million passengers had travelled by air to and from Bulgaria in 2005. Varna Airport handled a total of 1.431 million passengers, a 12 per cent increase compared to 2004. Foreign companies transported 52.3 per cent of the passengers.

Overall, the number of passengers travelling on scheduled and charter international flights to Bulgaria's airports in Sofia, Varna, Plovdiv and Bourgas rose last year by 16.4 per cent to 4.853 million passengers.

"Growth in passenger numbers will surely continue in 2006 by at least the same pace as last year," BAA secretary-general Yovko Yotzev told a Bulgarian news agency.

"This tendency is driven mainly by two factors: the growing lure of the tourism sector and Bulgaria's forthcoming accession to the European Union, hopefully next year," Yotzev said.

The influx of low-cost carriers was also among the factors boosting the market by creating a new segment.

In 2005, Hungary's Wizz Air and Slovak-based SkyEurope were the first low-cost carriers who launched flights to Bulgaria.

In May this year, Wizz Air is expected to launch a flight between Varna and Luton in the UK, and SkyEurope to start flights from Budapest to Varna in June.

In 2006, several other low cost carriers have announced plans to start flights to Bulgaria. Norway's budget airline Norwegian Air Shuttle will launch flights from Oslo to Varna and Bourgas in May. British low-cost airline easyJet was also considering entering the Bulgarian market in 2006, Yotzev said.

Charter traffic to Varna and Bourgas usually peaks between June and September, owing to the summer season, while flights from and to Sofia airport are usually linked to ski resorts and business trips.

The three Bulgarian carriers - Bulgaria Air, Hemus Air and Viaggio Air - did scheduled international flights that absorbed 40.54 pre cent of the total passenger traffic in 2005. Eighteen foreign airlines, including British Airways(BA), Air France, Malev, LOT and Alitalia did the rest of the flights.

However the situation with scheduled carriers flying only to Sofia, with only a few flying to Bourgas or Varna, will change this summer.

On February 3, BA announced it would start regular flights to Varna.

BA signed a contract for the Varna-London-Varna route with Varna Airport, with the first flight scheduled for March 29.

As of February 24, more than 50 Bulgarian and foreign companies have applied to the Ministry of Transport and Communication to carry out flights to Varna this summer.

The Sofia Echo contacted Ivilina Panayotova, head of Varna Airport's media office, who said they expected а 10 per cent increase in the number of passengers in summer 2006. The start of the active season is scheduled for May 1, but "the first tourists will arrive on March 1, from Leipzig on a Bulgarian Air Charter company charter.

"In the past few years, there has always been talk before the start of the season that Varna Airport will not handle the processing of passengers, but we always manage, and this year will be further proof of this," Panayotova said.

Among the measures planned by Varna Airport is the opening of a temporary terminal to serve arriving passengers.

The question of new terminals, however, is not new for Varna Airport.

There have been several calls in the local Bulgarian-language press for new terminals to be built to cope with the ever-increasing number of passengers.

Currently, Varna Airport is state-owned. When in 2005 a concession procedure was opened, the question of new terminals seemed solved. 

In April 2005, the Government chose Danish company Copenhagen Airports (CPH) to upgrade, manage and maintain the airports in Varna and Bourgas.

CPH pledged 526 million euro in investments in the two airports for the term of the 35-year concession. CPH offered to pay the state 30 per cent of either annual total revenues or airport fees, whichever was higher, in exchange for the concession.

The Transport Ministry estimated the total concession fee at 1.2 billion euro for the entire 35-year period. However, two unsuccessful bidders, Fraport from Germany and France's Vinci Airports, appealed against the decision. Their objection was based on the tendering commission, headed by former transport and communications minister Nikolai Vassilev, not having applied the initial criteria when choosing the successful candidate.

In its final judgment on January 27, Bulgaria's supreme court revoked the granting of a coastal airport concession to CPH. The decision is not subject to further appeal.