Varna Airport

Varna Airport
Летище Варна
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerState-owned
OperatorFraport Twin Star Airport Management AD
ServesVarna
LocationVarna, Bulgaria
Opened9 May 1948 (1948-05-09)
Time zoneEET (+2)
 • Summer (DST)EEST (+3)
Elevation AMSL70 m (230 ft)
Coordinates43°13′55″N 27°49′31″E / 43.23194°N 27.82528°E / 43.23194; 27.82528
Websitevarna-airport.bg
Map
VAR is located in Bulgaria
VAR
VAR
Location of airport in Bulgaria
VAR is located in Black Sea
VAR
VAR
Location of airport on the Black Sea
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
09/27 2,517 8,258 Asphalt
Statistics (2025)
Passengers1,865,319
Passenger change 2024–25Increase19.8%
Cargo (t)195
Cargo change 2024–25Increase43.4%
Instrument landing systemILS Category I, runway 09
Terminal buildings3; Terminal 2 for commercial use
Gates10
Terminal 2 construction costMore than BGN 75 million (EUR 35 million)
Sources: Bulgarian AIP at EUROCONTROL; 2025 traffic figures from Fraport Bulgaria.[1]

Varna Airport (Bulgarian: Летище Варна, romanized: Letishte Varna) (IATA: VAR, ICAO: LBWN) 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.[2]

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Varna Airport:

AirlinesDestinations
Air Serbia Seasonal: Belgrade[3]
Austrian Airlines Vienna[4]
Bulgaria Air Sofia[5]
Seasonal: Frankfurt,[6] Paris–Charles de Gaulle,[6] Prague[6]
Discover Airlines Frankfurt[7]
Seasonal: Munich[8]
Edelweiss Air Seasonal: Zürich[9]
Electra Airways Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn,[10] Stuttgart[11]
Eurowings Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn,[12] Düsseldorf,[13] Hamburg,[14] Stuttgart[15]
Fly Lili Seasonal charter: Hannover[16]
GetJet Airlines Seasonal charter: Vilnius[17]
Israir Tel Aviv[18]
LOT Polish Airlines Seasonal charter: Warsaw[19]
Luxair Seasonal: Luxembourg[20]
Norwegian Air Shuttle Seasonal: Oslo[21]
Ryanair Seasonal: Katowice,[22] Kraków[23]
Scandinavian Airlines Seasonal: Copenhagen[24]
Smartwings Seasonal: Brno,[25] Ostrava,[26] Prague[27]
Seasonal charter: Karlovy Vary[28]
Sunclass Airlines Seasonal charter: Bergen,[29] Helsinki[30]
Sundair Seasonal: Bremen[31]
Sundor Seasonal: Tel Aviv[32]
Transavia Seasonal: Paris–Orly[33]
TUI fly Belgium Seasonal: Brussels[34]
TUI fly Deutschland Seasonal: Hannover[35]
Turkish Airlines Istanbul[7]
Volotea Seasonal: Lille,[36] Nantes[37]
Wizz Air Basel (begins 27 October 2026),[38]Berlin,[39] Bratislava,[40] Brussels–Charleroi,[41] Dortmund,[42] Eindhoven,[41] Frankfurt–Hahn,[43] Hamburg,[44] London–Luton,[43] Memmingen,[43] Milan–Bergamo[44]
Seasonal: Athens,[45] Barcelona,[45] Budapest,[46] Debrecen,[45] Gdańsk,[45] Katowice,[47] Larnaca (begins 30 March 2027),[48] Nuremberg, [49] Paris–Beauvais,[45] Rome–Fiumicino,[50] Tel Aviv,[43] Warsaw–Modlin,[51] Wrocław[52]

Statistics

Traffic

PassengersYear300,000600,000900,0001,200,0001,500,0001,800,0002,100,0002,400,0001995200020052010201520202025PassengersAnnual passenger traffic
The runway
Terminal 2 gate area
Airport building by night
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).[55]

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[56][57] .

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.[58]
  • 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.[59]
  • 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.[60]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Burgas Airport and Varna Airport Served a Total of 3.7 Million Passengers in 2025". Fraport Bulgaria. 16 January 2026. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
  2. ↑ "Varna Airport Closes for Runway Overhaul in October". Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  3. ↑ "Air Serbia to launch New Service to Krakow, Ohrid and Varna for Summer 2023". 16 December 2022.
  4. ↑ Nieves Dolande, Rainer (24 January 2025). "Austrian Airlines Adds New Routes Across Europe, Asia, and North America". Aviacionline (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  5. ↑ Brandt, Oliver (10 February 2026). "Bulgaria's 2026 Air Boom: New Beach Hops, City Breaks and First US Nonstops". The Traveler. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 Dron, Alan (28 April 2025). "Bulgaria Air Adopts Twin-Track Small Narrowbody Strategy". Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  7. 1 2 "FRA Winter Schedule 2025/2026: 81 Airlines Flying to 244 Destinations in 96 Countries - Fraport". 20 October 2025. Retrieved 13 August 2026.
  8. ↑ "Burgas and Varna Airports Announce Major Expansion with New Flight Destinations (FULL LIST) - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency". 29 March 2025. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  9. ↑ Liebrich, Martin (14 January 2026). "Flughafen Zürich: Edelweiss fliegt neu nach Windhoek, Glasgow und Kefalonia". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  10. ↑ "Electra Airways fliegt von Köln/Bonn ans Schwarze Meer". aerotelegraph.com. 4 February 2025.
  11. ↑ "SunExpress and Electra Airways launches a 3-year flight program to Bulgaria".
  12. ↑ Treuherz, Julia (30 April 2025). "Bulgarien im Aufwind". touristik aktuell (in German). Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  13. ↑ Geub, Uli (29 June 2024). "Bulgarien: Auf neue Begegnungen". RP ONLINE (in German). Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  14. ↑ "Flight from Hamburg (HAM) to Varna (VAR) in September 2026". Eurowings. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
  15. ↑ "Alltours: Mehr Flüge nach Bulgarien". touristik aktuell (in German). 18 August 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  16. ↑ "Fly Lili will operate charter flights from Germany, Poland and Czechia to Burgas Airport".
  17. ↑ "Atnaujinamos kelionės į užsienio kurortus – gauti leidimai 2 kryptimis". 15min (in Lithuanian). 12 June 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
  18. ↑ Ingilizova, Svetoslava (30 July 2025). "Israel remains a strategic market for Bulgarian tourism". Fakti.bg - Да извадим фактите наяве. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
  19. ↑ "Flights to Varna". LOT Polish Airlines. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
  20. ↑ Sipinski, Dominik (4 July 2023). "Luxair takes delivery of first B737 MAX 8". Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  21. ↑ Mikalsen, Knut-Erik (9 November 2021). "Nå er det raskere å reise gjennom Oslo Lufthavn". flysmart24.no (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  22. ↑ Kokalova-Gray, Antonia (4 January 2024). "Ryanair to link Bulgaria's coastal airports to 14 cities in Europe in 2024 | Bulgaria Investments News | SeeNews". seenews. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  23. ↑ "Pasazer.com: Ryanair poleci z Krakowa nad Morze Czarne". Pasazer.com. 9 December 2022.
  24. ↑ "SAS Summer 2025 Adds 28 New Routes Across 17 Countries - Focus on Travel News". 2 April 2025. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  25. ↑ Pirodsky, Jason (5 June 2021). "Ryanair resumes flights from Brno to London". Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  26. ↑ "Ostravské letiště stále rychle roste, letos o 34 %". www.airways.cz (in Czech). 9 June 2025. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  27. ↑ Očadlý, Vojtěch (2 June 2024). "Na trase z Prahy do Varny přibude konkurence, alternativu nabídne Wizz Air". Zdopravy.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  28. ↑ "Letiště Karlovy Vary bude mít další charterové spojení, tentokrát s bulharskou Varnou". 7 January 2023.
  29. ↑ Andersson, Tom (19 March 2023). "Høyt press på direktecharteret fra Bergen lufthavn". Travel News Norge (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  30. ↑ "SunClass Airlines resumes Helsinki-Varna service". 26 May 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  31. ↑ "New to Varna: Bremen Airport expands summer flight schedule with Sundair". 24 June 2024.
  32. ↑ Cotler, Amit (19 January 2026). "Sun Dor Reveals Varna As Its 20th Destination for Summer 2026". passport.news. PassportNews. Retrieved 19 January 2026.
  33. ↑ Citrinot, Luc (19 December 2023). "Transavia France announces its plans for summer 2024". Business travel. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  34. ↑ Orban, André (31 August 2020). "TUI fly Belgium operations for September 2020". Aviation24.be. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  35. ↑ "Mit TUI fly von Hannover nach Burgas". Fliegerweb (in German). 25 June 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  36. ↑ Orban, André (24 March 2022). "Lille Airport: an ideal gateway for the North of France and the Belgian provinces East & West Flanders and Hainaut". Aviation24.be. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  37. ↑ "Quel hall pour Volotea à Nantes ?". Infos Nantes (in French). 11 May 2025. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  38. ↑ "Wizz Air обяви нова дестинация от Летище Варна". www.varna24.bg (in Bulgarian). 9 July 2026. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
  39. ↑ Orban, André (16 March 2026). "Wizz Air launches Berlin–Bratislava route and expands BER network for Summer 2026". Aviation24.be. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  40. ↑ "Wizz Air expanduje v Bratislavě – otevře 13 nových linek - Zaletsi.cz". zaletsi.cz. Retrieved 18 August 2025.
  41. 1 2 Orban, André (29 August 2022). "Wizz Air resumes flights from Charleroi and Eindhoven to Moldova". Aviation24.be. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  42. ↑ Braun, Ralf K. (12 February 2021). "Neues Sommerziel ab Dortmund-Wickede: Mit Wizz Air ins bulgarische Burgas an die Schwarzmeerküste". Lokalkompass (in German). Retrieved 23 December 2025.
  43. 1 2 3 4 "Wizz Air Expands Varna Operations with Four New Destinations - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency". 3 June 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  44. 1 2 Steiner, Stephen (21 October 2025). "Varna Airport expands winter offer with three new European destinations". Aviation.Direct. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  45. 1 2 3 4 5 "WizzAir to Open Flight Routes from Varna to Barcelona, Athens, Paris from June 15". bta.bg. Retrieved 13 March 2026.
  46. ↑ Moneva, Ekaterina (8 January 2026). "Wizz air с добри новини от летище Варна, ето до къде може да летим от юни" (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  47. ↑ "Wizz Air uruchamia nowe połączenie z Katowic nad bułgarskie Morze Czarne". GospodarkaMorska.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 3 July 2026.
  48. ↑ "Wizz Air expands its presence in Varna with a new route to Larnaca, a Mediterranean gem". Wizz Air Hungary Ltd. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
  49. ↑ "In an official statement, Wizz Air is changing the Plovdiv-Bratislava and Varna-Nuremberg routes to seasonal".
  50. ↑ Orban, André (18 December 2025). "Wizz Air expands Warsaw and Rome bases with new aircraft and dozens of new routes". Aviation24.be. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
  51. ↑ "Wizz Air adds three new routes from Poland". Wizz Air. 20 January 2026. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
  52. ↑ Moneva, Ekaterina (13 March 2026). "Wizz air с 5 нови маршрута от летище Варна" (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  53. ↑ "Статистическа информация за международните летища в Република България" (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 8 December 2023.
  54. 1 2 3 4 "Traffic Figures".
  55. ↑ "Начало". Archived from the original on 1 September 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  56. ↑ "Bus Schedule 409". Bus Varna - Varna Public Transport. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
  57. ↑ "Schedule". Chensfild. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
  58. ↑ "Фаталният полет до Варна преди 31 години" [The fatal flight to Varna 31 years ago]. BNT News (in Bulgarian). 19 March 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
  59. ↑ Harro Ranter (5 June 1992). "ASN Aircraft accident Tupolev 154B LZ-BTD Varna Airport (VAR)". Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  60. ↑ Final report on the accident involving Airbus A320-232, registration LZ-MDR, at Varna Airport on 24 May 2013 (PDF) (Report) (in Bulgarian). Aircraft Accident Investigation Unit, Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications of the Republic of Bulgaria. 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2026.

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