Varna Airport () 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.
History
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.
Airlines and destinations
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Varna Airport:
Statistics Traffic
+ Traffic at Varna AirportYearPassengersChangeCargo (tonnes)ChangeAircraft movementsChange1998273,6781148,9201999511,81909,0302000691,68909,4254.4%2001932,5491609,54920021,090,7098546.9%9,00620031,186,3490100.0%10,10720041,337,14513613600.0%11,27720051,546,9251986.0%13,61620061,522,6582891421.0%14,72120071,478,09315048.1%14,97120081,432,7031,004569.3%15,12920091,206,5358991.1%12,69920101,198,956836.7%12,60120111,165,3044150.6%11,26320121,212,2153319.5%10,73920131,303,865356.1%11,5167.2%20141,387,4945.2%74111.4%12,0634.7%20151,398,6940.8%11857.2%11,9590.9%20161,689,59520.8%3,2932690.7%14,81823.9%20171,970,70016.6%29391.0%15,9507.6%20182,281,13415.8%13640.6%17,77611.4%20192,084,3198.7%1239.3%15,46813.0%2020622,21570.1%4464.1%6,88155.5%20211,010,49462.4%3423.9%9,23934.3%20221,484,18646.9%104205.8%11,42023.6%2023 1,838,82823.9%6239.8%13,85021.3%2024 1,556,798-15.3%136119.4%12,282-11.3%20251,865,31919.8%19543.4%14,15915.3% + Top Markets at Varna Airport (2025) Rank Country Passengers 1 Germany 596,000 2 Bulgaria 225,000 3 United Kingdom 151,000 4 Austria 145,000 5 Poland 142,000+ Top Destinations (2025) Rank Destination 1 Sofia 2 London–Luton 3 Vienna 4 Istanbul 5 Frankfurt
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).
The bus runs from 05:45 AM until 11 PM in every 15 minutes (four courses) - two of the courses are conducted by Varna municipal transportation company (tickets are available online in the TTickets Varna app) and two by a private company (tickets only in the bus). The municipal and the private company have different prices - for the municipal you can use the 60-minutes ticket at 0,51 EUR (if you travel to Varna which is 30 minutes from the airport and Saints Constantine and Helen which is 46 minutes) and the 90-minutes ticket at 0,77 EUR (if you travel to Golden Sands which is around 70 minutes) while the private company offers the ticket at 1,10 EUR .
Incidents and accidents On 7 March 1983, Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Flight 013, an Antonov An-24 operating a domestic flight from Sofia to Varna, was hijacked by four men armed with knives who demanded to be flown to Vienna. The crew continued towards Varna while authorities extinguished much of the city's lighting to prevent the hijackers from recognising the Black Sea coast. After the aircraft landed, Bulgarian security forces stormed it; three hijackers were arrested, one was shot dead, and a flight attendant was injured. 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. On 24 May 2013, Air VIA Flight 502, an Airbus A320-232 registered LZ-MDR and arriving from Leipzig, overran runway 09 after landing at Varna Airport. The aircraft crossed the runway-end safety area, struck the perimeter fence and came to rest beyond the airport boundary. During the evacuation, two passengers sustained serious injuries, and the aircraft was substantially damaged.
See also List of airports in Bulgaria List of airlines of Bulgaria List of the busiest airports in Europe by passenger traffic
References
External links
Varna Airport Homepage History of Varna Airport