Varna Airport

Varna Airport (Bulgarian: Летище Варна, romanized: Letishte Varna) (IATA: VAR, ICAO: LBWN) is the airport of Varna, the historical maritime capital of Bulgaria. Varna Airport is the third largest airport in Bulgaria. It is located 10 kilometers from the center of Varna near the town of Aksakovo. The airport serves Varna, Golden Sands and northeastern Bulgaria. The busiest season for the airport is from the end of May to the beginning of October.

Varna Airport

Летище Варна
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerState-owned
OperatorFraport Twin Star Airport Management AD
ServesVarna
LocationVarna, Bulgaria
Opened1947 (1947)
Hub for
Elevation AMSL70 m / 230 ft
Coordinates43°13′55″N 27°49′31″E
Websitevarna-airport.bg
Map
VAR
Location of airport in Bulgaria
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
09/27 2,517 8,258 Asphalt
Statistics (2021)
Passengers1,004,000 89.0%
Aircraft movements8,128 20.0%
Source: Bulgarian AIP at EUROCONTROL

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 built in 1972 and a new runway in 1974.

In 2013, a new passenger terminal opened and the one constructed in the 20th century was closed down.

There are domestic and international flights from Varna to about 70 destinations in 25 countries, with Bulgarian and foreign airlines. The airport is close to the Port of Varna and the railway system. The airport has one asphalt-covered runway 09/27 with ILS CAT I system on 09 edge and a parking apron for 24 aircraft. 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 to/from Burgas Airport.[1]

In 2016 the airport handled 1,689,595 passengers - a 20.8% increase compared to 2015.

Terminals

The airport has three terminals: Terminal 1, built in 1972 (closed), Terminal 3 (opened in June 2007), which was used during the summer season, and the new Terminal 2, opened in August 2013.

Terminal 1

Terminal 1 (closed) was extended several times over the years. The departures area had 21 check-in counters and six security checkpoints. In the terminal there were various outlets: cafes, fast food restaurants, currency exchange, and duty-free shops. There were ten boarding gates. The arrivals area had two luggage belts, as well as currency exchange and a tax-free shop. Terminal 1 still has a VIP room and business lounge. In 2010 the VIP room was renovated. As of 2014, all flights, including no-frills, are managed by Terminal 2. Hence, the old terminal is closed except the VIP area.

Terminal 2

Terminal 2 started operations on 18 August 2013. In December 2011 the construction work on the new Terminal 2 began. T2 has a capacity of 1,800,000 passengers per year and 25 check-in desks. It covers an area of 18,000 square metres. T2's buildings are designed so that their capacity can be increased as an extension to the existing architectural part. The first passenger service on T2 was a domestic flight to Sofia operated by the national carrier Bulgaria Air and first international passengers served were on a Belavia flight from Minsk. T2 was designed by London-based architecture firm Pascall+Watson.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Varna Airport:[2]

AirlinesDestinations
Austrian Airlines Vienna
Avion Express Seasonal charter: Vilnius
Bees Airline Seasonal: Kyiv–Zhuliany[3]
Bulgaria Air Sofia
Seasonal: Burgas, Moscow–Sheremetyevo (suspended), Saint Petersburg (suspended), Tel Aviv
Seasonal Charter: Kaunas
easyJet Seasonal: Berlin, London–Gatwick
Edelweiss Air Seasonal: Zürich
European Air Charter Seasonal: Hamburg
Eurowings Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hamburg,[4] Hannover,[4] Leipzig/Halle,[4] Stuttgart
Eurowings Discover Seasonal: Frankfurt[5]
Finnair Seasonal: Helsinki
LOT Polish Airlines Seasonal: Budapest, Katowice,[6] Warsaw–Chopin[7]
Lufthansa Seasonal: Frankfurt, Munich (begins 3 May 2022)[8]
Luxair Seasonal: Luxembourg[9]
Norwegian Air Shuttle Seasonal: Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo
Ryanair Vienna
Seasonal: Sofia,[10]
SkyUp Seasonal: Kyiv–Boryspil[11]
Smartwings Seasonal: Brno, Lyon,[12] Nantes, Ostrava, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Prague
Sunclass Airlines Seasonal charter: Bergen, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo-Gardermoen, Stavanger, Stockholm-Arlanda, Trondheim
TAROM Seasonal charter: Baia Mare, Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara (all begins 15 June 2022)[13]
TUI Airways Seasonal: London–Gatwick, Manchester[14]
TUI fly Belgium Seasonal: Brussels, Ostend/Bruges
Seasonal charter: Lille, Nantes,[15] Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Turkish Airlines Istanbul
Volotea Seasonal: Lille (begins 17 May 2022),[16] Nantes
Wizz Air Berlin, Charleroi, Cologne/Bonn, Dortmund, Eindhoven, Hahn, Hamburg, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Larnaca, Liverpool, London–Gatwick (begins 13 June 2022),[17] London–Luton, Memmingen, Nuremberg, Prague, Tel Aviv, Vienna

Statistics
The runway
Terminal 2 gate area

Traffic
Annual passenger traffic at VAR airport. See source Wikidata query.
Traffic at Varna Airport
Year Domestic
passengers		 Change International
passengers		 Change Total
passengers		 Change Aircraft
movements		 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% 9,425
2001 48,121 28.7% 884,428 41.7% 932,549 34.8% 9,549 1.3%
2002 45,457 5.5% 1,045,252 12.1% 1,090,709 16.9% 9,006 5.7%
2003 41,583 8.5% 1,144,766 9.5% 1,186,349 8.8% 10,107 12.2%
2004 47,575 14.4% 1,271,552 11.1% 1,319,127 11.2% 11,277 11.6%
2005 49,705 4.5% 1,496,175 17.7% 1,546,925 17.3% 13,616 20.7%
2006 54,243 9.1% 1,468,415 1.8% 1,522,658 1.6% 14,721 8.1%
2007 79,058 45.7% 1,399,035 4.7% 1,478,093 2.9% 14,971 1.7%
2008 119,459 51.1% 1,313,244 6.1% 1,432,703 3.1% 15,129 1.1%
2009 155,734 30.4% 1,050,801 20% 1,206,535 15.8% 12,699 16.1%
2010 154,974 0.5% 1,043,982 0.6% 1,198,956 0.6% 12,577 1.0%
2011 117,431 24.2% 1,046,453 0.2% 1,163,884 2.9% 11,263 10.4%
2012 126,952 8.1% 1,084,244 3.6% 1,211,196 4.1% 10,739 4.7%
2013 130,668 2.9% 1,173,011 8.1% 1,303,679 7.6% 11,516 7.2%
2014 126,991 2.8% 1,246,095 6.2% 1,387,494 5.2% 12,063 4.7%
2015 125,860 0.9% 1,272,834 2.2% 1,398,694 0.8% 11,959 0.9%
2016 134,548 6.9%[18] 1,536,594 20.7% 1,689,595 20.8% 14,818 23.9%
2017[19] 1,970,700 16.6% 15,950 7.6%
2018[20] 2,281,134 15.8% 17,776 11.4%
2019 2,084,319 8.7% 15,468 13.0%
2020[21] 622,215 70.1% 6,881 55.5%
2021 (January)[21] 20,468 72.0% 270 57.5%

Ground transport

Bus line 409 connects the airport with Varna city center and resorts nearby (route: Varna Airport – Mall Varna – Varna Bus Station / Grand Mall – City Center – Saints Constantine and Helena - Golden Sands).[22]

Incidents and accidents
  • On 5 June 1992, Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Tupolev 154B overran runway 27 in bad weather conditions. There were no casualties, but the plane was written off.[23]
  • On 24 May 2013, Air VIA flight 502 from Leipzig/Halle to Varna overran runway 09 at Varna Airport after touchdown. Two passengers were injured during evacuation.[24][25]
  • On July 8, 2014, Lars Mittank, a German vacationing in Golden Sands, mysteriously disappeared near Varna Airport. Mittank had been alone in Bulgaria the previous two days and reported to be behaving strangely, and was last seen on security cameras fleeing from the airport into the surrounding forest.

See also

References
  1. "Varna Airport Closes for Runway Overhaul in October". Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  2. "Flight Search". www.varna-airport.com. 10 September 2020.
  3. "Bees Airline – New Ukrainian Aircompany With The Lowest Prices".
  4. Liu, Jim. "Eurowings expands Varna service in 3Q20". Routesonline. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  5. https://www.lufthansaexperts.com/shared/files/lufthansa/public/mcms/folder_102/folder_6718/file_152223.pdf
  6. "LOT wykona z Katowic rejsy czarterowe dla Rainbow Tours". pasazer.com.
  7. "Nowe trasy z Polski. Przewoźnik zapowiada inauguracyjny rejs". tvn24bis.pl.
  8. "Lufthansa: Jetzt für den Sommer buchen - Lufthansa Group".
  9. "Varna | Luxair". Archived from the original on 22 July 2018.
  10. https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en
  11. Liu, Jim. "SkyUp Airlines S19 network expansion summary as of 01JUL19". Routesonline. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  12. "SmartWings.com - Cheap flights not only around Europe". www.smartwings.com.
  13. TAROM begin seasonal charter flights to Varna from Baia Mare, Cluj-Napoca and Timisoara from June 2022
  14. "Flight Timetable - TUI Airways". www.tui.co.uk.
  15. TUI fly Belgium begin seasonal service to Varna on route Lille-Varna-Nantes-Lille
  16. "Volotea : Trois nouvelles destinations au départ de Lille-Lesquin". 23 February 2022.
  17. "Wizz Air стартира полети от Варна и Бургас до Лондон Гетуик от юни 2022". 27 January 2022.
  18. "Главна дирекция "Гражданска въздухоплавателна администрация"". www.caa.bg.
  19. http://www.fraport.com/content/fraport/en/misc/binaer/traffic-figures/traffic-figures-fraport-group/2017/monthly-traffic-figures/traffic-sheet-en/jcr:content.file/traffic-sheet-2017-december_en.pdf
  20. "Monthly traffic figures" (PDF). 2018.
  21. "Monthly traffic figures" (PDF). 2020.
  22. "Начало". Archived from the original on 1 September 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  23. Harro Ranter (5 June 1992). "ASN Aircraft accident Tupolev 154B LZ-BTD Varna Airport (VAR)". Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  24. "Морски - Самолет излезе от пистата на летище Варна, две жени са със счупени крайници (допълнена и видео) - видео - Dnevnik.bg". www.dnevnik.bg. 24 May 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  25. "The Aviation Herald". Retrieved 7 June 2015.

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