SCHIPHOL – The first holiday flight from Corendon that departed from Schiphol Airport since the corona crisis was big national news in Bulgaria, where the plane flew. In the seaside resort of Burgas, the Boeing 737-800 was met by the Minister of Tourism and camera crews tumbling over each other. The tourism sector in Bulgaria has been hit hard by the crisis.
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By aviation reporter Doron Sajet
The packed Boeing landed in Burgas at around 11.15 a.m. local time, with Dutch tourists on board and about forty travel agents who had traveled to the city to familiarize themselves with the surroundings. On the platform of the international airport, camera crews, photographers, journalists and Minister Nikolina Angelkova of Tourism urged to capture the first tourists disembarking.
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video-caption">NH News / Doron Sajet
Angelkova was over the moon with the arrival of the holiday charter. Tourism is an important source of income for Bulgaria. In Burgas, which is on the Black Sea, you can currently hear a pin drop. Local entrepreneurs, such as restaurant owners and hotel owners, barely keep their heads above water or go bankrupt. The flight from Schiphol was a sign of recovery and hope for the economy of the country for the Bulgarian government.
The Bulgarian channel Nova was live when the device arrived
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Burgas was also the first destination flown by Corendon himself. The Boeing that brought the tourists to their holiday destination has stood still for months in Maastricht. The plane was flown back to Schiphol a week ago to be able to serve again for charter flights, to countries such as Bulgaria, Italy, but also to Turkey.
Fuss
Corendon’s announcement to resume flights to Turkey yesterday received heavy criticism from the Dutch government. The travel advice for Turkey has not yet been relaxed. Prime Minister Rutte even called the initiative unwise and irresponsible by Corendon. Rutte finds the corona test that is offered for the return trip to the Netherlands of limited use, because the negative result cannot be 100 percent reliable.
Corendon finds the criticism unjustified and says he does not understand that the airlines Turkish Airlines, Pegasus and KLM have been allowed to start all their passenger flights to Turkey. Corendon says this has created “fundamentally unfair competition” and is considering whether or not to resume flights to Turkey.
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