Budapest Airport welcomes Bulgaria Air and new flights to Sofia.

Wednesday 3rd July 2013

First route to benefit from airport's new 'thin route' incentive scheme:

Budapest Airport last week welcomed the return of regular flights to Sofia, Bulgaria, with new airline customer Bulgaria Air, the national carrier of the Republic of Bulgaria.  The carrier's Embraer 190 aircraft, configured with two class 108-seats touched down at 14;20 pm local time.  Journey time is just 70 minutes.

Bulgaria Air, which is serving the route four times weekly, becomes the first overseas airline to benefit from Budapest Airport's innovative incentive scheme to increase more thin routes.  The initiative announced at Routes Europe in Budapest in May, and approved by the Hungarian Civil Aviation Authority last month, enables airlines to benefit with a 50% discount on passenger service charges per year, for a maximum three years.  The scheme is being applied to new 'thin' routes in order to help Budapest Airport fill its so called 'white spots' on its expanding route map.

"We are delighted to welcome new airline Bulgaria Air," said Kam Jandu, Budapest Airport's Aviation Director.  "The route will be popular with business people and leisure travellers this summer too with a schedule that enables short break weekends in Bulgaria and Hungary.

The maiden flight was celebrated with a marzipan cake for the Bulgaria Air crew, presented by Budapest Airport's Service Development Manager Sándor Saly.

Schedule:

Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays

Depart Sofia                14:10               Arrive Budapest          14:20

Depart Budapest         15:05               Arrive Athens              17:15

Bulgaria Air operates regular flights from Sofia and Varna to 28 major destinations in Europe and the Middle East, together with charter and business flights to more than 100 other destinations. Together with its codeshare partners, Bulgaria Air offers its customers opportunities to travel to over 400 cities in in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America.

About Budapest Airport:

Budapest Airport Zrt. operates Budapest Airport. This is privately owned with German company HOCHTIEF AirPort, one of the world's biggest independent airport managers holding a 49.67% stake, together with a further four financial investors: Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Montreal holding a 18.17% stake; Malton Investment Pte Ltd. holding a 18.17% stake; Aero Investment S.á.r.l. holding a 10% stake and KfW IPEX-Bank, Frankfurt holding a 4% stake.

Budapest Airport aims to be the best airport in the Central and Eastern European region and has been recognised for their development projects, customer services approach and marketing activities.

www.bud.hu