Burgas Airport Concessionaire Under Fire: Calls for Contract Revision and Airport Closure

An unprecedented attack is being launched against the concessionaire of Burgas airport. The formal occasion is the planned serious rehabilitation of the runway, which will require the airport to be closed next year for 6 months.

The announcement of the upcoming major renovation caused the anger of hoteliers and local government representatives from the Southern Black Sea coast, who accused the concessionaire of ruining their business and killing the airport in Burgas by diverting traffic to Varna. There have been calls for the concession contract to be scrapped.

The object of the attack is “Fraport Twin Star Airport Management” AD. This is the company that manages the airports in Burgas and Varna under a contract signed in 2006 and expiring in 2041. The concessionaire company is a joint venture – its shareholders are the German ” Fraport” and the Bulgarian “Himimport”, part of the influential Varna group TIM.

Discontent escalated

Already last year, the mayor of Pomorie Ivan Alexiev (GERB) asked for the concession to be reviewed because not enough efforts were made to attract more flights and new airlines to Burgas.

A few days ago, the mayor of Burgas Dimitar Nikolov (GERB) announced on his Facebook profile that he and his colleagues from South-Eastern Bulgaria came up with a position for contract revision. This is what the message says: “Over the years, we have had hundreds of conversations with the Fraport concessionaire, dozens of meetings, round tables. Several municipalities have created a fund to stimulate more flights. And every time assurances from Fraport that they will do their best for year-round flights. No result. The lack of flights is really dooming the Southern Black Sea coast, which has significantly more tourists than the Northern in the summer. And during the rest of the time, our tourist bases have no chance to work precisely because of the lack of flights. We do not know the concession contract, but it would be more profitable to break the concession, because the penalties from the termination of the contract would hardly be greater than the losses of the tourism industry, the affected municipalities and the state. While we wait, tourists are flowing to other neighboring countries,” says in the position of the mayors.

“Vazvanie”, signed by the chairmen of 13 municipal councils in the Burgas region, also criticizes the concessionaire for ruining the airport and tourism. It is noteworthy that the majority of heads of local parliaments were appointed by GERB and that half represent municipalities that are not known for great success and traditions as tourist destinations – Kameno, Malko Tarnovo, Rouen, Sredets, Aytos, Sungurlare.

And the Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association (BHRA) came out with a critical opinion. The hoteliers accuse the concessionaire of not announcing when exactly he will carry out the repairs, which prevents them from making their plans. The fact is that messages from “Fraport” are evasive – “the overhaul is still in the initial stages of planning and has not been finally approved”, the company says. In fact, most likely the 6-month rehabilitation will start in October 2025 and end in March 2026, so as not to harm the summer season. According to a similar scheme, 12 years ago, a major repair was made to the track in Varna, with all the traffic during the cold months being taken over by Burgas.

According to BHRA, it is a mistake that the two airports are managed by one company. “If they were operated by different companies, there would be real competition that would lead to more flights and better deals for passengers,” the position said.

The dissatisfied were joined by the deputy from GERB Lyuben Dilov, a member of the Committee on Tourism in the National Assembly. “At the moment, planes fly to and from Burgas every few days, and the only external destination is London, while in Varna alone, nearly 10 flights are made per day”. In my opinion, this concession should be reconsidered…I am not a specialist in transport, but I think that there can always be negotiations”, commented Dilov.

The answer

The concessionaire responded to the criticism:

“There has never been an attempt to transfer traffic from Burgas to Varna. Airlines decide whether to open or close new routes or to increase or decrease traffic by volume or in year-round routes. Public speculations about limiting Burgas Airport to cargo traffic only are absolutely groundless and harmful to the development of tourism,” states the position of Fraport Twin Star Airport Management.

Rivalry

The concessionaire’s data show that Varna Airport is indeed developing better. Before the pandemic, the Burgas airport served nearly 2.9 million tourists a year, and the Varna airport – about 2 million. In 2023, both airports served 1.8 million passengers each – which means a 36% drop for Burgas compared to the pre-Covid 2019 year.

Even before the corona crisis, the tourist industry on the Southern Black Sea coast claimed that the concessionaire was attracting more airlines to the “northern” airport – for example, Wizzair flies to and from Varna year-round to 14 European destinations. “Austrian Airlines” also provides a year-round connection between Varna and Vienna. Flights of Turkish airlines were also directed to our northern maritime capital.

Unanswered questions

Certainly, the poor results of the Burgas airport are cause for concern. But is the concessionaire alone to blame for the mishaps? Tourism and air transport are jumpy vessels – hoteliers, restaurateurs and local authorities should ask themselves why flights are decreasing and whether the outflow of tourists is not due to high prices, poor service, poor advertising or there are other reasons. There is no evidence that the state – the owner of the airports – has made an analysis of the “decline” of Burgas and has identified measures. It is not clear why the criticism focuses only on the concessionaire, but bypasses the ministries of transport and tourism.

Is a “revision” of the contract required and possible? Is it possible that the partners in the concession have a strained relationship because of different visions for the future and one of them has sought political support? Is splitting the concession into two and changing the owner of Burgas Airport an option? Are there any backroom deals or secret plans? What is the state’s position?

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2024-03-06 08:16:26


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