Burgas Airport

Burgas Airport (IATA: BOJ, ICAO: LBBG) is an international airport in southeast Bulgaria and the second largest in the country. It is near the northern neighbourhood of Sarafovo approximately 10 km (6.2 mi) from the city centre.^[1] The airport principally serves Burgas and other seaside resorts of the Bulgarian south coast which attract many tourists during the summer leisure season.^[2]

Burgas Airport Летище Бургас Letishte Burgas
IATA: BOJ ICAO: LBBG
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	State-owned
Operator	Fraport Twin Star Airport Management AD
Serves	Burgas
Location	Burgas, Bulgaria
Opened	27 June 1937; 87 years ago (1937-06-27)
Time zone	EET (+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (+3)
Elevation AMSL	41 m / 135 ft
Coordinates	42°34′13″N 027°30′55″E
Website	www.burgas-airport.bg
Map
BOJ/LBBG Location of airport in Bulgaria
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 04/22 3,200 10,500 Concrete
Statistics (2023)
Passengers 1,848,169 Passenger change 22-23 12.4% Aircraft movements 13,174 Movements change 22-23 7.2% Cargo (tons) 2,556 Cargo change 22-23 59.1%

History

Early years

On 27 June 1937, the French company CIDNA (now part of Air France), chose the area of Burgas Airport to build a radio station and signed a contract with the Bulgarian government for its use. The contract expressly stated that the staff of Burgas Airport would be Bulgarian.^{[citation needed]}

On 29 June 1947, Balkan Bulgarian Airlines began domestic flights between Burgas, Plovdiv and Sofia, using Junkers Ju 52/3m aircraft. In the 1950s and 1960s, the airport was expanded and modernized by building a concrete runway. In 1970, the airport became an international airport serving 45 destinations.^[3]

Development since the 2000s

Burgas airport has been subject to heavy traffic following the growing tourism industry in Bulgaria and was in need of major investments to expand and handle projected passenger traffic. In June 2006, the Bulgarian Government awarded Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide a 40-year-long concession on both Varna and Burgas airports in return for investments exceeding €500 million.^[4]

Fraport entered into partnership with Varna-based company BM Star. The concessionaire has vowed to inject 403 million Euro in the two airports during the lifespan of the arrangement. Fraport will pay 60% of an investment of EUR 403 million over the 35-year concession. The investments will be made in new terminal facilities, vehicles and equipment and expanding apron areas at the airports over the life of the concession.^[5]

Facilities

Aerial view of Burgas Airport

Terminals

In December 2011, construction work began on the new Terminal 2. The new terminal was planned to have a capacity of 2,700,000 passengers and an area of 20,000 square metres (220,000 sq ft). The new terminal building was designed so that it can be easily upgraded to further increase capacity, if necessary. Construction of the new terminal was completed in 2013, and has been operational since December 2013.^[6]

Terminal 2 replaced the older Terminal 1, which was built in the 1950s and expanded in the early 1990s, and now handles all of the airport's passenger traffic. The terminal is equipped with 31 check-in counters, three boarding-card checkpoints, nine security lanes and eight departure gates. The arrivals area (divided into Schengen and non-Schengen zones) has 12 immigration stations and four baggage carousels (one 120 metres (390 ft) long and three 70 metres (230 ft) long carousels). Passenger amenities include 800 square metres (8,600 sq ft) of space dedicated to shopping and 1,220 square metres (13,100 sq ft) for food and beverage (F&B) services. There is also a 550 square metres (5,900 sq ft) outdoor courtyard.^[7]

Runway

The runway is 3,200 metres (10,500 ft) long.^[8]

On 31 October 2016, reconstruction and rehabilitation of taxiways began at Burgas airport. The project includes a complete rehabilitation of 3,500 square meters of taxiway "H", complete rehabilitation of taxiway "A", as well as area adjacent to the runway holding point. The control and monitoring system for airfield lighting and approach light equipment will be replaced. The total investment of Fraport Twin Star Airport Management in these projects is over BGN 12 million.^[9][10]

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to Burgas Airport:^[11]

Airlines	Destinations
Aer Lingus	Seasonal: Dublin
airBaltic	Seasonal: Riga,[12] Tallinn[13]
Austrian Airlines	Seasonal: Vienna (resumes 19 June 2025)[14]
Avion Express	Seasonal charter: Vilnius[15]
BH Air	Seasonal charter: Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Belfast–International, Billund, Brussels, Cardiff, Copenhagen, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Groningen, Humberside, Leeds/Bradford, London–Gatwick, London–Southend,[16] Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Stavanger,[17] Teesside[18]
Bluebird Airways	Seasonal: Tel Aviv
Brussels Airlines	Seasonal charter: Brussels[citation needed]
Bul Air[citation needed]	Seasonal charter: Bratislava, Katowice, Košice, Warsaw–Chopin
Bulgaria Air	Sofia Seasonal charter: Antalya,[19] Bratislava, Brno,[20] Budapest, Košice, Kuwait, Ostrava,[21] Pardubice, Poprad/Tatry,[20] Prague, Yerevan[22]
Buzz	Seasonal charter: Bydgoszcz, Katowice, Kraków,[23] Poznań, Warsaw–Chopin, Wrocław
Corendon Dutch Airlines	Seasonal: Amsterdam,[24] Brussels,[25][26] Maastricht/Aachen[27][28]
Discover Airlines	Seasonal: Frankfurt,[29][30] Munich (begins 2 July 2025)[31]
easyJet	Seasonal: Berlin, London–Gatwick, Manchester
Enter Air[23]	Seasonal charter: Gdańsk, Katowice, Porto,[32] Poznań, Prague,[citation needed] Warsaw–Chopin, Wrocław
Eurowings	Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn,[33] Düsseldorf,[34] Hamburg,[35] Salzburg,[36] Stuttgart[37]
Electra Airways	Cologne/Bonn (begins 19 May 2025)[38]
Finnair	Seasonal charter: Helsinki[39]
Fly Lili	Seasonal charter: České Budějovice,[40] Erfurt/Weimar,[41] Hannover,[42] Wrocław[43]
Freebird Airlines Europe	Seasonal charter: Leipzig/Halle[44] Paderborn/Lippstadt[45]
GetJet Airlines	Seasonal charter: Vilnius[46]
Iberojet	Seasonal charter: Madrid[47]
Jet2.com	Seasonal: Birmingham,[48] Bristol,[49] East Midlands, Edinburgh (begins 1 May 2025),[50] Glasgow, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool,[51] London–Stansted,[52] Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne
Jet Time	Seasonal charter: Billund, Copenhagen, Helsinki,[45] Umeå[53]
LOT Polish Airlines	Seasonal charter: Warsaw–Chopin,[citation needed], Wrocław[citation needed]
Luxair	Seasonal: Luxembourg
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Seasonal: Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, Riga (begins 13 June 2025),[54] Stockholm–Arlanda
Ryanair[55]	Seasonal: Bratislava, Budapest, Dublin, Gdańsk, Kaunas, Kraków, London–Luton, Poznań, Vienna, Warsaw–Modlin
Scandinavian Airlines	Seasonal charter: Copenhagen, Oslo,[citation needed] Stavanger,[citation needed] Trondheim[56]
Skyline Express	Seasonal charter: Warsaw–Chopin[57][better source needed]
SmartLynx Airlines	Seasonal charter: Riga,[58] Tallinn[46]
Smartwings[59]	Seasonal: Bratislava, Brno, Košice, Ostrava, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Prague[60] Seasonal charter: České Budějovice,[61] Gdańsk,[62] Katowice,[62] Pardubice,[45] Warsaw–Chopin[62]
Sunclass Airlines	Seasonal charter: Helsinki,[63] Oslo[64]
Sundair	Seasonal: Berlin
TUI Airways[65]	Seasonal: Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands (begins 22 May 2025),[66] London–Gatwick, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne Seasonal charter: Dublin[67]
TUI fly Belgium[68]	Seasonal: Brussels
TUI fly Deutschland	Seasonal: Hannover[69]
TUI fly Netherlands	Seasonal: Amsterdam
TUI fly Nordic	Seasonal charter: Gothenburg (Resumes 22 May 2025), [70] Stockholm–Arlanda[71]
Uzbekistan Airways	Seasonal charter: Tashkent[72]
Wizz Air	London–Luton Seasonal: Budapest, Gdańsk, Katowice, Lublin, Vienna, Warsaw–Chopin

Statistics

Traffic

Annual passenger traffic at BOJ airport. See Wikidata query.

Traffic at Burgas Airport

Year	Passengers	Change	Cargo (tonnes)	Change	Aircraft movements	Change
1998	433,024		39		6,092
1999	339,297	21.6%	31	20.5%	5,722	6.1%
2000	398,015	17.3%	36	16.1%	5,224	8.7%
2001	594,396	49.3%	53	47.2%	5,964	14.2%
2002	767,476	29.1%	925	1645.3%	6,708	12.5%
2003	1,026,134	33.7%	635	31.4%	8,963	33.6%
2004	1,352,173	31.8%	899	41.6%	11,199	25.0%
2005	1,556,091	15.1%	122	86.4%	12,496	11.6%
2006	1,802,135	15.8%	405	232.0%	14,429	15.5%
2007	1,941,311	7.7%	2,051	406.4%	16,114	11.7%
2008	1,925,266	0.8%	1,338	34.8%	16,868	4.7%
2009	1,689,866	12.3%	2,597	94.1%	15,636	7.3%
2010	1,874,562	10.9%	5,654	117.7%	15,775	0.9%
2011	2,229,045	19.0%	5,991	6.0%	19,215	19.0%
2012	2,358,159	5.8%	2,281	61.9%	18,856	1.9%
2013	2,480,099	5.1%	2,625	15.1%	18,447	2.2%
2014	2,522,319	2.6%	5,354	104.0%	18,869	0.8%[73]
2015	2,360,320	6.7%	13,272	147.9%	18,271	4.3%
2016	2,878,883	22.0%	10,877	18.0%	20,873	14.2%
2017	2,982,339	3.6%	14,300	31.5%	21,466	2.8%
2018	3,277,229	9.9%	8,429	41.1%	23,284	8.5%
2019	2,885,776	12.0%	4,747	43.7%	19,954	14.3%
2020	424,252	85.3%	3,889	18.1%	4,079	79.6%
2021	955,402	125.2%	4,669	20.1%	8,295	103.3%
2022	1,643,581	72.2%	6,244	33.7%	12,293	48.2%
2023	1,848,058	12.4%	2,556	59.1%	13,174	7.2%[74]
2024	1,808,236	-2.2%	655	-74.4%	12,902	-2.1%[45]

Top 5 Markets (2023) ^[75]

Rank	Destination	Passengers
1	Poland	473,868
2	United Kingdom	376,570
3	Czech Republic	206,810
4	Germany	159,440
5	Israel	88,294

Top 5 Cities (2023) ^[76]

Rank	Destination	Passengers
1	London	142,809
2	Warsaw	128,778
3	Katowice	112,569
4	Prague	109,985
5	Tel Aviv	88,294

Ground transportation

Bus

Line No 15 connects Burgas airport with Burgas South bus station.^[77]

Intercity buses from Burgas to Pomorie, Aheloy, Ravda, Nessebar and Sunny beach also stop close to the airport. The stop is located at the roundabout on the main road across from the terminal building.

Taxi

The Taxi Piazza is located in front of the Arrivals Terminal at Burgas Airport. A taxi ride from Burgas Airport to the city takes approximately 15 minutes, depending on the traffic intensity.The prices start from €25 depending where in the city you need to go.^{[78][better source needed]}

Parking

Passengers and guests arriving at Burgas Airport with their personal car can use the commercially available parking lot, located in the immediate vicinity of the main terminal building. The parking lot has 199 car spaces available and is accessible 24 hours a day.^[79]

Incidents and accidents

• On 18 July 2012, an attack at Burgas Airport occurred. A suicide bomber boarded a bus which was transporting Israeli citizens to the Bulgarian resort of Sunny Beach located in Burgas, the perpetrator detonated the bomb killing six civilians (and one suicide bomber) as well as injuring 32 people. The attack resulted in the closure of Burgas Airport for over 30 hours, resulting in the majority of flights diverting to Varna Airport.^[80][81]

See also

• List of airports in Bulgaria
• List of airlines of Bulgaria
• List of the busiest airports in Europe
• 2012 Burgas bus bombing

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External links

• Official website