Low cost carriers to fly to Bulgarian coastal cities Varna, Bourgas

Hungary's Wizz Air and Norway's Norwegian Air Shuttle will launch flights to Bulgarian coastal cities Varna and Bourgas, Dnevnik learned from the transport ministry.

Wizz Air, which started flying between Budapest and Sofia in late 2005, plans a Luton-Varna-Luton service from May. The low-cost carrier then plans to also add flights from Luton to Bourgas.

Fellow budget carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle will offer a weekly Oslo-Varna-Oslo service also from May 6. The carrier will also fly to Bourgas. Return fares will start from 143 euro.

Slovakia's SkyEurope is another no-frills carrier with plans to fly from Budapest to Varna and Bourgas. However, the company is yet to notify the flight schedule to the airport authorities. The service is expected to get underway on June 17.

The SkyEurope flights will likely have a layover in Bratislava because Bulgaria Air, Malev and Wizz Air are the only carriers authorised to perform direct flights between Hungary and Bulgaria.

In response to an increase in the umber of Britons vacationing on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, British Airways has announced it will open a London-Varna-London service on March 29. The flights will be performed initially on Wednesdays and Saturdays with Monday and Tuesday flights to be added from June 6.

A total of 45 carriers have so far asked to be permitted to perform regular and charter flights to Varna and Bourgas.

In related news, transport minister Petar Mutafchiev said that temporary passenger terminals could be built at the Varna and Bourgas airports if the concession contract for the two airports remains tangled up in court.

Danish company Copenhagen Airports was initially tapped to run the 2 airports but a lower panel of the Supreme Administrative Court overturned the concession award. That ruling is being appealed before a senior panel of the same court. Temporary facilities will have to be constructed to expand the departures terminal of the Bourgas airport and the arrivals terminal of the Varna airport to cope with the anticipate uptick in traffic during the summer months.